masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgFor the second night in a row, the Orioles have hit two home runs in the bottom of the first inning.

They led the majors with 46 homers in June and they’ve already got two on the first night in July.

Steve Pearce homered twice last night and he hit No. 10 tonight in his first career at-bat against Texas right-hander Nick Martinez. Nelson Cruz launched a ball into the Orioles’ bullpen with two outs to increase the lead to 2-0 and tie him with White Sox rookie Jose Abreu for the major league…For the second night in a row, the Orioles have hit two home runs in the bottom of the first inning.

They led the majors with 46 homers in June and they’ve already got two on the first night in July.

Steve Pearce homered twice last night and he hit No. 10 tonight in his first career at-bat against Texas right-hander Nick Martinez. Nelson Cruz launched a ball into the Orioles’ bullpen with two outs to increase the lead to 2-0 and tie him with White Sox rookie Jose Abreu for the major league lead with 26.

The Rangers quickly tied the game in the top of the second. More on that later.

Rangers’ left fielder Shin-Soo Choo almost robbed Pearce, but he couldn’t hold onto the ball and it appeared to glance off the foul pole. The call stood after a 41-second crew chief review.

Pearce fell behind 0-2, ran the count to 2-2, fouled off three pitches, worked the count full and fouled off another pitch before hitting an 85 mph slider.

Cruz turned 34 today. He’s 7-for-16 in five career games on his birthday, including a six-RBI night in 2011.

The Orioles now have four players with 10 or more home runs: Cruz (26), Adam Jones (15), Chris Davis (13) and Pearce (10).

The first three Rangers collected hits off Orioles left-hander T.J. McFarland to begin the top of the second, with Adam Rosales’ two-run double tying the game. Chris Gimenez doubled before Rosales came to the plate, the ball skipping past first baseman Davis as he reached down for it.

McFarland has allowed two runs and four hits in two innings, and he’s thrown 29 pitches.

Jones hit his 152nd home run as an Oriole last night, moving him past Chris Hoiles for 10th place on the club’s all-time list. Melvin Mora is ninth with 158.

Jones’ 82 career home runs at Camden Yards rank fifth all-time behind Rafael Palmeiro (124), Brady Anderson (91), Mora (89) and Cal Ripken Jr. (85).

Delmon Young is batting .538 (7-for-13) as a pinch-hitter this season, the most pinch hits by an Oriole since Jeff Conine had nine in 1999. Since 1974, the most pinch hits by an Oriole in a season is Terry Crowley with 13 in 1978.

Update: Make that three home runs on July 1.

Caleb Joseph hit a two-out, two-run shot in the bottom of the second inning to give the Orioles a 4-2 lead.

Joseph has three major league home runs.

Update II: The Orioles tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the fourth and lead 8-2.

J.J. Hardy and Jonathan Schoop singled and Ryan Flaherty walked to load the bases with one out. Shortstop Elvis Andrus booted Caleb Joseph’s ground ball to score one run and Nick Markakis doubled to score two more. Pearce’s sacrifice fly upped the lead to 8-2.

Andrus should have been able to start a double play on Joseph’s grounder.

Markakis now needs 102 hits to tie Boog Powell for fifth on the club’s all-time list. Still counting.

The Orioles have scored seven, seven and eight runs the past three games.