The Orioles needed a feel-good game before their first road trip. They needed to form the handshake line after the final out and crank up the music on their new clubhouse sound system. Turn on the flashing lights above the lockers and ignore the black clouds that began to follow them again.

Much too soon to panic, but never too early to be concerned about injuries, short starts and a tattered bullpen.

They had the right guy on the mound and picked the right time for Leody Taveras to make his first appearance in their lineup. And a .500 record on the season’s first homestand was easier to digest.

Trevor Rogers held the Rangers to two runs in six innings, and Taveras got a little revenge on his former team with a single and RBI double through the third in the Orioles’ 8-3 win before an announced crowd of 14,324 at Camden Yards.

Samuel Basallo turned out to be the right choice behind the plate, with his first home run leading off the fifth inning measured at 437 feet to center field at 109.5 mph. It was loud. So was the reaction to it.

“Sammy, I asked him after he hit that home run, ‘How did that feel?’” said manager Craig Albernaz. “Because I’ve never experienced it that, where you hit a line drive up the middle and it puts a hole in the batter’s eye.”

Dylan Beavers made the start in left field and singled twice and homered, with his shot off former Orioles minor leaguer Carter Baumler in the sixth traveling 401 feet at 103.8 mph. And Tyler Ward stayed hot with two more hits to give him six in less than 24 hours.

“Definitely good to just pick up where I left off last night,” Ward said. “I want to keep it rolling and just continue to trust my work. I think that’s been the biggest thing, but it was a great win today, and, like I said, hopefully we keep it rolling.”

Losing Zach Eflin to an elbow injury hurt an entire clubhouse, but the Orioles didn’t let it keep them down. They had to respond in a positive manner, which Albernaz expected them to do.

“They don’t waver,” Albernaz said. “They fight, they compete. Know right from the jump when everyone showed up it was still the same energy.

“Obviously, a lot of people were thinking about Zach, you know? But also, be ready to go out there and compete, and it was a great team win.”

“It was nice to bounce back,” Beavers said. “Obviously, never good to see guys struggle with injuries, especially guys like Ef. Yeah, it was good we bounced back today.

“It’s early in the year, and we got challenged early, so to respond and not let it snowball into something more, I think the whole lineup did a great job.”

Nathan Eovaldi walked Coby Mayo in the fifth and was replaced by Tyler Alexander, who let the inherited runner score and one of his own. Nine batters came to the plate and the Orioles led 7-2. Beavers bumped it to 8-2.

The bottom third of the order produced a run in the second inning. Colton Cowser reached on an infield hit and Taveras singled into right field. Jeremiah Jackson flied to deep center field to score Cowser, and Ward, from his leadoff spot, followed with an RBI double to right.

Eovaldi gave up five two-out hits through the third inning. Beavers singled in the third to advance Pete Alonso after his leadoff walk, Cowser walked to load the bases and Taveras delivered two runs with a double to right field.

“Leody coming up big,” Albernaz said. “Such a pro. Ready for the moment, ready for his time.”

A 4-0 lead became 4-2 in the top of the fourth inning after the Rangers strung together four consecutive two-out hits. Andrew McCutchen singled and improved to 7-for-14 with a double and three home runs lifetime against Rogers. Danny Jansen had a bloop single to right at 61.3 mph, and Josh Jung battled back from an 0-2 count to work it full and ground a single into right field. Ezequiel Duran’s ground ball shot into center field to score Jansen.

The three-run fifth for the Orioles included Beavers’ single, Cowser’s sacrifice bunt, a Taveras walk, Jackson’s RBI single to right and Ward’s sacrifice fly.

“I think the most impressive thing with Beaves was the hit off the lefty, off Alexander, to keep the inning going,” Albernaz said. “That’s something where, everyone knows the talent of Beaves across the league. There’s no hiding in this game. And for Beaves to go up there and manage the at-bat against the lefty and keep the line moving and set up that inning with Cowser with the bunt. Yeah, with all our guys, that’s just a credit to our PD department just developing this great, young talent.”

Taveras walked again in the seventh and Ward singled to raise his average to .333 with an .810 OPS.

Orioles batters weren’t getting cheated today. Alonso lined to third base at 107 mph to end the seventh.

Rogers walked McCutchen with one out in the sixth and the Orioles turned a 5-4-3 double play on Jansen’s grounder. Rogers was removed after 91 pitches, with six hits, a walk and three strikeouts. His ERA is 1.38 in 13 innings.

“I knew I could make a real impact on the bullpen and I take it upon myself to try to go as deep in games the best I can, and the fact I was able to get through six, especially after that tough third or fourth inning that it was, I was really happy,” Rogers said.

Asked about the Eflin injury, Rogers said, “It’s something you never want to see for anybody, especially how hard that guy works. With just how hard he tried to push through the back stuff last year, he got that all cleaned up and thinks he’s ready to go, and unfortunately that pops up. It’s very, very unfortunate for that to happen to him, and we’re all pulling for him.”

Albert Suárez, who had his contract selected today, covered the last three innings to again demonstrate his value. Corey Seager hit a 422-foot homer leading off the eighth, but that was the only run off Suárez.

“That was a huge three innings for us with Al,” Albernaz said. “His flight was 6 a.m., 12:35 game. He was probably running on a little bit of adrenaline, but that was huge for us to shut it down and go three innings and kind of reset the bullpen to go into the off-day. It was definitely needed. It was a huge outing for Al.”

“I was mentally prepared,” Suárez said. “I come here to do whatever it takes to win the game. So, that’s what I basically did out there.

“I’ve done it before. It helped me to prepare mentally and physically, I work every day to be ready for any situation. For me, it’s easier to be mentally than physically prepared.”

Suárez could have opted out of his contract before Opening Day but elected to stay.

“During the offseason, the Orioles showed me they wanted me back, and I also wanted to stay here,” he explained. “So I think I made the right decision.”

*The Orioles produced the majors’ first walk-off ABS challenge, with Suárez getting the third strike on Evan Carter after Basallo asked for the appeal.

“I’m glad he saved a challenge,” Albernaz said. “He looked over. ‘You’ve got two, ‘you can use one.’ I’m glad he used it.”

“We still had two there at the end of the game, so I thought, ‘Why not use it?’” Basallo said. “Better to use it and see what happens instead of holding onto it and maybe not using it the rest of the game.”

Suárez said he didn’t think the last pitch was a strike, but Basallo called for the challenge.

“So I was like, ‘OK, let’s see,'” Suárez said. “Good thing we got it.”

How does Suárez feel about ABS?

He smiled and said, “I think I like it more after what happened today.”

*Reliever Andrew Kittredge began his injury rehab assignment today with Triple-A Norfolk and threw 19 pitches, nine for strikes, in two-thirds of an inning. He allowed one run and two hits with a walk and a strikeout.

Jackson Holliday has a single, double and walk.

Catcher Creed Willems hit his first home run. Brandon Young allowed one run in five innings, with five hits, no walks and four strikeouts.