ARLINGTON Mariano Rivera Jersey , Texas (AP) — Rougned Odor keeps feeling better. Joey Gallo needed a break.Odor hit his third career grand slam and Gallo and Robinson Chirinos had back-to-back homers in a seven-run fourth inning as the Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles 11-3 Friday night.Odor has avoided saying he feels good throughout a hot streak since the All-Star break during which he has batted .404 (21 for 52) with six homers to raise his batting average 31 points to .270.“Feeling better,” he said again.But how does it feel to hit a grand slam? “Great!”Both Odor and Gallo have homered in each of the first two games of a four-game series between last-place teams. Texas has outscored the Orioles 28-11 in those games and has won six of seven.“Odor right now is pretty well locked in, not just offensively but defensively,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said.Right fielder Gallo and second baseman Odor combined for an out on Renato Nunez’s double to the right-center field gap in the eighth inning. Gallo threw to Odor well out on the outfield grass, and he fired a strike to catcher Chirinos to put out Trey Mancini trying to score.Gallo leads the Rangers with 28 homers but has struggled to improve his batting average, currently .193.“The All-Star break helped,” Gallo said. “It’s tough when you’re here every day and struggling. We went to Mexico and got away. We didn’t worry about baseball. Then you get back and you kind of miss it.”Rookie right-hander Ariel Jurado (2-1) won his second straight start for Texas after a loss in his major league debut.Jurado left after giving up six hits, two walks and two runs while striking out three in five innings.“A really good night for him,” Banister said. “Cruised through four. … “We kind of learned who he is against major league hitters.”Another rookie http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-babe-ruth-jersey , Baltimore’s David Hess (2-6), didn’t make it out of the fourth inning in his 10th major league start.The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Hess made two errors on the same play, allowing Odor to score from first base.Hess hit Adrian Beltre with a pitch leading off the fourth. Gallo then homered to right field, and Chirinos followed with another homer to the back of the lower deck in left.“Beltre getting hit by the pitch, I think that kind of gave them a little bit of fire,” Hess said. “And then I just left some balls over the middle of the plate and they didn’t miss them.”Donnie Hart relieved Hess with the bases loaded and one out. Odor hit a 1-0 pitch into the right field seats.Baltimore scored twice against Jurado in the fifth with two-out RBI singles by Jonathan Villar and Tim Beckham.Orioles rookie Evan Phillips, acquired from the Braves on Tuesday, retired all six Rangers he faced, striking out three.“Just as advertised Lou Gehrig Jersey ,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “Late, live fastball, threw a good changeup tonight, that was impressive.”Andrus’ eighth-inning single extended his hit streak to 14 games, the majors’ longest current streak.TRAINER’S ROOMOrioles: RHP Jhan Marinez went on the 10-day disabled list. He strained his right hamstring while warming up between innings and left Thursday’s game. RHP Phillips replaced Marinez on the 25-man roster.Rangers: CF Delino DeShields was a late scratch because of a headache. Carlos Tocci replaced DeShields. … OF Nomar Mazara (sprained right thumb) has been on the disabled list for two weeks. Texas manager Jeff Banister said he hoped to decide this weekend whether to send Mazara on an injury-rehab assignment.WHICH IS BETTER?Gallo has four assists in eight games as a right fielder. Is it a bigger thrill to hit a home run or to throw out a runner?“Throwing somebody out without a cutoff guy is pretty cool, especially if you don’t bounce it,” Gallo said. “A walk-off home run, that’s a pretty fun feeling as well. They’re about the same.”UP NEXTOrioles RHP Dylan Bundy (7-9, 4.53) faces Rangers LHP Mike Minor (7-6 http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-dimaggio-jersey , 4.73) in a matchup of the teams’ wins leaders. WASHINGTON — The Washington Nationals begin their final homestand of the season Thursday night when they host the New York Mets.They’ll play seven games over seven days against the Mets and Marlins, but the stakes are much lower than in previous years. They won’t be clinching a playoff berth or setting a rotation or auditioning players for a post-season roster spot.Washington (77-75) sits seven games behind the Braves in the National League East and 6 1/2 behind the Cardinals for the second wild card. A best-case scenario would seem to be staving off mathematical elimination until they end the season with three road games in Colorado.Article continues below ...The homestand may be the last for All-Star outfielder Bryce Harper, a free-agent in the offseason.“I haven’t really thought about it,” Harper told the Washington Post. “I think it’ll really hit that last game I guess, running off the field or something like that. I’m just trying to enjoy it and see what happens.”After a rough first half, Harper enters the final 10 games hitting .247 with 34 homers and 97 RBIs. He has never driven in 100 runs.The Mets (70-82) long ago became a non-factor in 2018 and are already looking ahead to next season when they could boast arguably the best starting rotation in the East.On Wednesday, they announced they were shutting down right-hander Zack Wheeler (12-7, 3.31 ERA) for the remainder of the season, with Corey Oswalt taking his place in the rotation.Wheeler Mickey Mantle Jersey , who didn’t pitch in the majors in 2015 and 2016, had a shortened 2017. This season he’s gone 9-1 with a 1.68 ERA over his last 11 starts but has pitched almost 100 more innings than a year ago.“We’re really excited about the year he had, and we feel like we’d probably be taking the best care of him we can if we shut him down at this point,” manager Mickey Callaway told mlb.com.Left-hander Jason Vargas (6-9, 6.47 ERA) starts Thursday’s opener for the Mets.Vargas has also enjoyed a strong finish. His ERA was in double digits back in May and after an Aug. 7 loss it was 8.75 to go along with a 2-8 record. He’s given up two earned runs or fewer in five of his last six starts, including last time out when he beat the Marlins, allowing two runs over six innings.Vargas is 1-3 with a 0.83 ERA, in six games (three starts) against Washington.Right-hander Max Scherzer (17-7, 2.53 ERA) starts for Washington. Scherzer has 277 strikeouts coming in and needs eight to top his career high of 284 http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-yogi-berra-jersey , set in 2016. He has 16 double-digit strikeout games on the season.In his last start, Scherzer was roughed up by the Braves, giving up six runs on seven hits over four innings, his shortest start of the season as he seeks a third straight NL Cy Young Award.“I just couldn’t get into a rhythm where I knew where those balls were actually going to end up. I couldn’t control my misses,” Scherzer told the Washington Post. “I was pitching out of the stretch so much. I never found a rhythm out of the windup to be able to take it to the stretch to be able to execute clean innings.”Scherer is 9-4 with a 2.34 ERA in 16 games (15 starts) against the Mets.
