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Cabrera, Mora help Orioles pound struggling Rangers

Aug 10, 2008 - 4:06 AM By Sean Burns PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Daniel Cabrera threw six scoreless innings and Melvin Mora homered and drove in four runs to lead the Baltimore Orioles to a 9-0 victory over the slumping Texas Rangers on Saturday.

Nick Markakis belted a three-run homer and every starter had at least one hit for Baltimore, which outhit Texas, 14-5.

Marlon Byrd had two hits for the Rangers, who lead the major leagues in runs scored (652) but have lost four straight, including two shutouts in the last three games.

This time, it was the inconsistent Cabrera (8-7), who entered with an 8.91 ERA over his last eight starts, that tamed Texas. The righthander settled down after loading the bases with one out in the first, retiring 15 of the next 16 batters he faced. He also got out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth.

"It was a tough night all around," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "We couldn't stop them offensively and we couldn't get anything going offensively. We're in a little funk right now."

"It stinks," Byrd said. "It's terrible. There are no excuses. We're not tired. We looked good in batting practice, and we had our ace on the mound. We just got our tails kicked."

Cabrera allowed a leadoff single to Ian Kinsler to start the game, but got out of the bases-loaded jam by getting Byrd to pop out and striking out Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

"I got out of that jam and we (won)," Cabrera said. "Kinsler hit a good pitch, then I was down 3-1 and gave up the walk, but l came back and got the outs. It felt good to get out of both with no runs and get the win.

"The difference in the game tonight, the way I saw it, Cabrera got out of the first inning," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said.

Byrd was kicking himself for his first-inning at-bat.

"I completely messed up the flow of the game," Byrd said. "If I get a hit or drive in a run there, the game completely changes. That killed our inning."

Rocky Cherry, Alberto Castillo and Fernando Cabrera each tossed an inning of relief to complete the five-hit shutout.

While the Rangers have had problems scoring, that was not the case for the Orioles.

Baltimore roughed up Vicente Padilla (12-6), as Roberts led off the game with a walk and later scored on a single by Kevin Millar.

Markakis' 17th home run in the second inning gave the Orioles a 4-0 lead. Mora plated Roberts and Juan Castro with a single in the fourth for a six-run bulge.

Padilla was tagged for six runs and eight hits in four innings. Baltimore continued its offensive onslaught as Roberts ripped an RBI single in the fifth and Mora launched a two-run shot off Joaquin Benoit in the seventh.

Texas All-Star shortstop Michael Young left the game in the middle of the fourth inning after aggravating a fracture of his right ring finger but is expected to play in Sunday's series finale.

"I'll be in there tomorrow," Young said. "When I went out there in the bottom of the inning, I had trouble throwing the ball across the infield. The frustrating part was I knew in an hour I'd be fine, but I knew at that point I couldn't be out there."