David Price’s stretch of dominant starting pitching found a dead end against perhaps the game’s hottest hitter.
Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre was 3-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs, including driving in the go-ahead run, to lead the Rangers to a 6-5 victory against Tampa Bay last night in Arlington, Texas.
The Rays, who remain four games behind the Yankees in the AL East, entered with the AL’s best road record (35-27).
Elvis Andrus scored on Beltre’s single in the fifth inning for Texas. Nelson Cruz had a home run, and Mike Olt also had an RBI in support of Derek Holland (9-6), who earned the victory after going six innings and giving up five runs — three earned — on six hits, five strikeouts and a walk.
Price’s stretch of 12 consecutive quality starts, during which he had pitched at least seven innings in each, was snapped with more troubles against Texas.
The lefty, who entered with a major-league low 2.28 ERA and a league co-high of 16 victories, didn’t make it to the fifth, giving up six runs on 10 hits in four innings.
In eight career regular-season starts against the Rangers, Price (16-5) is 1-4 with a 6.04 ERA. In four starts at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, his ERA is inflated to 10.26.
Beltre, who was selected American League player of the week after a game of three home runs and another in which he hit for the cycle, is hitting .485 with six home runs and 13 RBIs in his last eight games.
Orioles 4, White Sox 3
In Baltimore, Nate McLouth hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning, Lew Ford also connected and the Orioles rallied to beat the White Sox and move into second place in the AL East, 3 1/2 games behind the Yankees.
It was the franchise-record 13th consecutive one-run win for the Orioles, who trailed 2-1 in the sixth and 3-2 in the eighth.
The duel between the first-place White Sox and the surprising Orioles, who are in the midst of the AL wild-card race, attracted a meager crowd of 10,955 on a clear night at Camden Yards.