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Orioles continue series in Arlington

Jul 5, 2011 - 2:42 PM (Sports Network) - While Mark Reynolds continued his power surge for the Orioles on Monday, the Rangers were able to put up a consistent attack that helped them snap a brief losing streak.

Texas will try to keep swinging a hot bat this evening versus Baltimore and starter Mitch Atkins, who makes his season debut in the second of three straight games between the clubs in Arlington.

Reynolds connected on a pair of homers in Monday's opener, giving him five and nine runs batted in over his past three games. J.J. Hardy hit Baltimore's third home run of the game later, but the trio of long balls didn't even come close to keeping the Orioles in the game as they dropped a 13-4 decision.

As Baltimore leaned on power, Texas pressured Orioles pitching all night with 18 hits, including a season-high 10 for extra bases. Michael Young finished a home run shy of the cycle and Endy Chavez matched a career high with four RBI on the strength of a two-run homer and two-run double.

David Murphy added three hits and Adrian Beltre homered to halt Texas' two- game slide and keep it tied with the Los Angeles Angels for the top spot in the American League West. Starter Colby Lewis cruised through seven innings, giving up three runs.

"It's only a matter of time before we had a kind of a game like tonight, where we're going to come out and score a lot of runs," Lewis said. "That's just what our offense is capable of pretty much every night."

Texas did most of its damage early in the game, scoring six runs against Orioles starter Chris Jakubauskas, who started the third inning but couldn't get an out.

Baltimore, which has lost six of its last seven, has already made one change to its rotation, demoting Brian Matusz last week. Atkins takes his place tonight and what will be his Baltimore debut and first start of his major league career.

The right-hander is a former draft pick of the Cubs and has appeared in seven games with Chicago out of the bullpen over the previous two seasons. He yielded seven earned runs over 12 innings and was a non-roster invitee to the Orioles' camp.

Slowed by a left oblique strain, the 25-year-old Atkins went 3-6 with a 3.18 earned run average in 14 minor league starts spread out over three different levels. He is 2-3 with a 3.11 ERA in eight starts with Triple-A Norfolk and will appear in the majors for the first time since Aug. 8.

Countering for Texas is left-hander Matt Harrison, who is 3-3 over his last seven starts despite a 2.27 ERA.

Harrison lost for the third time in four decisions on Thursday at Houston, giving up five runs over six innings of a 7-0 setback. He had yielded just one earned run in each of his previous three outings, but fell to 6-7 with a 3.30 ERA in 15 starts this season.

The 25-year-old has won all three of his career starts versus the Orioles even though he has a 5.21 ERA against them. He did pitch a gem versus the club on April 9, hurling seven innings of one-run ball. The lone run allowed came on an Adam Jones solo homer, but Harrison retired the final 18 batters faced after that.

Texas took two of three from the O's earlier in the year and has won five of the past seven meetings.