Wrapping up an 8-4 loss

ARLINGTON, Texas - One night after the Orioles battered the Rangers in the seventh inning, hitting four home runs and erasing a four-run deficit, they came unglued in the bottom half of the same frame.

The Rangers sent 10 batters to the plate, scoring six runs and came away with an 8-4 win at Globe Life Park.

Yovani Gallardo was at 96 pitches through the sixth. He came back out for the seventh with left-hander T.J. McFarland ready in the bullpen and proceeded to walk No. 9 hitter Brett Nicholas on four pitches. Delino DeShields followed with a double, McFarland entered the game and the situation went from bad to worse.

McFarland induced two ground balls to the right side from Nomar Mazara and Prince Fielder, but he was late covering the bag as one run scored, and the tying run crossed after Chris Davis stepped on the bag and threw late to the plate.

An intentional walk was followed by an RBI double from Mitch Moreland, and Mychal Givens allowed a two-run single to Rougned Odor and RBI single to Elvis Andrus.

So much for a 9-2 start to the season and a chance to win the series.

"I think the first two ground balls, obviously CD made unbelievable plays on both of them," said McFarland, who was tagged with the loss. "The first one I was late getting over to first and we weren't able to get the out, but with the second one as well, he made an unbelievable play and (DeShields) was safe at home. But yeah, obviously that inning didn't turn out the way I wrote it up in my head."

McFarland hesitated before racing to first on Mazara's grounder and Davis had no play.

"I started to run over there and it was just too late," McFarland said.

McFarland was warming in the sixth inning when third baseman Manny Machado made a nifty backhanded stab of Andrus' sharp grounder and started a 5-4-3 double play to bail out Gallardo.

"The plan wasn't for me to start the seventh," McFarland said inside a quiet visiting clubhouse. "I was just waiting for the phone call."

It came too late in the minds of many fans who anticipated that Gallardo would be done after the sixth. He hasn't recorded an out in the seventh since June 27, 2015 in Toronto, a span of 20 starts.

"He's carrying good stuff," said manager Buck Showalter. "I just didn't want to take him much over 100 and whatever. But he's fine. Colby (Lewis), a very similar outing. Just we didn't pitch the last nine outs as well as they did."

Showalter said he didn't want to use three relievers who were needed to win last night's game, an apparent reference to Brad Brach, Darren O'Day and Zach Britton.

"That kind of put us in a little different ... but you've got to use those guys to win a ballgame the night before," Showalter said.

Gallardo, charged with four runs, kept scolding himself for walking Nicholas.

"I felt fine," he said. "You know, I felt fine. I was throwing the ball good. Obviously, there were a couple innings where I had to work out of jams, but I was able to make pitches wherever I needed to. The nine-hole hitter, that can't happen. There's no excuse for it. That guy has to hit his way on. I ended up walking him. That's asking for trouble."

Games can be lost quickly in this ballpark. And apparently, it's fairly common in the seventh inning.

"I think that's how it is here, that's how the ballpark is, but you know what? For me, the most important thing is just that was a key part of the game, just the nine-hole hitter," Gallardo said.

"No matter what the lead is or who the hitter is, you've got to make him swing the bat."

McFarland got a few swings that he wanted early, but two runs scored on the grounders.

"Mac, his delivery makes him tardy over there a lot, and I think he was thinking Chris might be throwing that baseball to the plate, too, so he probably was trying to create a lane. I haven't talked to him yet," Showalter said.

"He hung a breaking ball to Moreland. That hurt him. But he made a good pitch to the two-hole hitter and hit a ground ball and just couldn't get the outs. Got another ground ball off Fielder, so there were some good things he did, too."

Showalter felt that Gallardo was crisper in this outing, a major factor in his decision to stick with his starter in the seventh.

"Fastball was up in the 90s. He got in that range," Showalter said. "Very similar outings by both pitchers. They're professional pitchers, they're going to keep you in the game and not bend."

The Orioles received solo home runs from Machado, Adam Jones and Davis, giving them eight in a span of eight innings going back to last night. But the only other run scored on Pedro Alvarez's single in the fifth - his first RBI as an Oriole.

The only other baserunner came on Matt Wieters' walk in the seventh.

"You can't make runners be out there," Showalter said. "One night you get people out there and you don't get them in, another night you hit a home run and nobody's on base. That's kind of a tribute to their guy, too. I still thought we were pretty selective. But we had our chances. We just didn't pitch the last nine outs very well."

The infield defense was sensational again, with Machado also making a diving stop along the line and Jonathan Schoop making a diving stop of his own. Davis speared a couple of hard-hit ground balls. But Showalter was most amazed by Wieters' throw to second that cut down DeShields attempting to steal in the eighth.

"There was no better play than the throw Matt made," Showalter said. "That's a 1.77. That's an unheard of time. Those are unheard of times that he and Caleb (Joseph) have gotten off this year. In fact, Dylan (Bundy) was a little slower to the plate than he's been in the past. But you look at some of the defensive plays we were making, probably would have been a lot higher score than eight runs if some of those things weren't happening."

It was high enough to frustrate Gallardo, who thought that his stuff was good enough to win.

"I definitely felt a lot better than last time," he said. "I was able to command all my pitches. Pretty good curveball, pretty good changeup and slider. It's just one of those things that that first inning, that ground ball double down the line. It's just one of those things. It seems like it's a game of inches.

"I think throughout the game, they made me work. And I was able to maintain the game there until that seventh inning, with that walk. And even to DeShields, I tried to throw the front-door cutter. It just lifted up, up and out over the plate. It's a little bit different if you get that guy in front of them. You get that first out, and you've got one out in the inning. It's a double with one guy on. I think that was, for me, it just can't happen."