ARLINGTON, Texas -- For most of the night, Miguel Tejada, Brian Roberts and Ramon Hernandez watched another disappointing Orioles offensive effort from the bench, as all were kept out of the starting lineup by manager Dave Trembley.
With just a week and a half left in a season that became a lost cause long ago, Trembley has vowed that it's time to give others opportunities to play, but he said the goal of winning remains unchanged. So with the Orioles being shut out and down by a run in the ninth inning, Trembley called on Roberts and Tejada, who helped tie the game in the ninth.
Roberts then hit a three-run home run in his team's five-run 10th that sent the Orioles to a 6-3 victory before an announced 20,136 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, and broke a three-game losing streak.
Fernando Cabrera gave up two runs in a shaky 10th but held on for the Orioles' seventh win in the past 29 games.
"One of our better team baseball games of the season," Trembley said. "[Victor] Zambrano gave us a chance, and our situational pitching was great. And then we got some big hits from guys that didn't start the game."
On a night where they got a strong start from Zambrano, who allowed just one run in five innings, the Orioles (65-87) appeared destined to be shut out for the fourth time in 19 September games. But trailing 1-0 in the ninth and held to one run in their past 27 innings, the Orioles got their rally started on Melvin Mora's leadoff double against Rangers closer Joaquin Benoit.
Trembley sent up Roberts, who grounded out to second base, but most importantly, moved Mora to third. Trembley then called on Tejada for his first pinch-hit appearance of the season. Tejada, who was just 2-for-23 on the road trip, roped a single to center against Benoit to tie the game.
"It's a long season and it's hard to be hot all year," Tejada said. "It's great to get a hit like that. I didn't expect to be in there."
Orioles reliever Jamie Walker preserved the 1-1 tie by pitching a scoreless bottom of the ninth. In the top of the 10th, Nick Markakis led off with an infield single and Kevin Millar walked.
Aubrey Huff followed with a hard grounder that first baseman Brad Wilkerson couldn't handle. The error scored Markakis and gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead. Mora then laced an RBI single to right for a two-run Orioles' advantage, and it expanded to five runs when Roberts pounded Wes Littleton's 3-1 pitch over the right-center-field wall. The three-run shot was his 12th homer of the year.
