Cruz's sac fly in 9th leads Rangers over Orioles

Nelson Cruz hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning to finally give the Texas Rangers a 4-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, ending a game Wednesday night in which Josh Hamilton hit a ball over the fence that wasn't a home run.

Hamilton homered in the second, then led off the fourth with an opposite-field shot that clearly sailed over the 14-foot fence in left and ricocheted back into play.

Second base umpire Doug Eddings signaled that the ball was still in play and Hamilton stopped with a double.

Rangers manager Ron Washington came out to question the call when the umpires didn't come together as a group. They also didn't go look at the television replay, which showed that the ball went over the fence and then hit a metal brace attached to a concrete wall supporting the video scoreboard there.

Michael Young led off the ninth against Cla Meredith (0-1) with his third hit, a hustling double on a ball that went off the glove of diving shortstop Cesar Izturis into short center. Ian Kinsler and Hamilton walked to load the bases before Cruz's flyball to center off Jason Berken, Baltimore's third pitcher in the inning and seventh in the game.

Izturis snapped out of a 4-for-41 slump with three hits and drove in all three runs for the Orioles, who have lost four of five games.

Frank Francisco (5-3) faced only three batters in his scoreless ninth for Texas, benefiting from a double play after a walk.

Texas went ahead in the seventh on a pair of unearned runs without hitting a ball out of the infield.

Matt Treanor's leadoff grounder rolled to a stop on the grass about halfway to third base for an infield hit. Julio Borbon reached on his sacrifice bunt because reliever Matt Albers' double-clutched throw to first was late for an error. After another sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk to Young, Kinsler had an RBI groundout to tie it at 2.

Vladimir Guerrero drove in the go-ahead run with a hard chopper for an infield single when third baseman Miguel Tejada got his glove on the ball but was unable to handle it.

Baltimore led 2-0 in the second after a two-run bloop hit by Izturis. That was one of four singles in the same inning that Texas starter Rich Harden got all three outs on strikeouts. Izturis tied the game at 3 with a two-out single in the eighth off Chris Ray.

Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie, who had won his last two starts after an eight-game losing streak that stretched back to last season, left after six innings with a 2-1 lead. The right-hander struck out three with no walks.

Harden struck out five and allowed two runs and eight hits over 5 1-3 innings. He has three straight no-decisions, including his previous start when he left with a 9-7 lead after walking six and giving up seven runs in 2 2-3 innings in a 16-10 loss at Tampa Bay.

NOTES: Texas is 18-9 since April 22, matching Tampa Bay (18-7) for the most wins in that span. ... Guthrie has a 2.89 ERA in six career starts against Texas. ... Orioles LHP Mike Gonzalez is scheduled to throw an inning at extended spring training in Florida on Thursday. He is rehabbing from a strained left shoulder. ... Baltimore arrived in Texas about 3 a.m. Wednesday after their eight-game homestand. Guthrie came ahead of his teammates.