ARLINGTON, Texas -- Nick Markakis had answers for both of the home runs from Texas slugger Adrian Beltre. Cheap Air Jordan 1 China . The Baltimore leadoff man hit a tying homer after Beltres first blast, and his go-ahead single followed a three-run shot that pulled the Rangers even, as the Orioles went on to a 6-5 victory in Texas on Wednesday night. Markakis single in the sixth inning came after Beltre wiped out a 5-2 lead. Chris Davis had put Baltimore up by three with a solo shot against his former team -- a night after Nelson Cruz did something similar by homering in his first game as an opponent at Texas. "Weve have been having good at bats up there," Markakis said. "Seems like when they get the ball over the plate, weve been getting good swings on it and finding the hole, finding the gap." Cruz had three singles and reached twice on errors by Luis Sardinas, a surprise fill-in at shortstop for Elvis Andrus. It was the second time in less than a week the two-time All-Star wasnt in the starting lineup. Bud Norris (4-5) allowed six hits and five runs in five innings for the Orioles, and the bullpen pitched four scoreless innings. Zach Britton earned his fifth save. Davis, who was traded to the Orioles by Texas in 2011 and led the majors with 53 homers last year, had his eighth this season on a towering shot to right field for a 5-2 lead in the fifth. Cruz, who chose Baltimore over Texas as a free agent in the off-season and leads the big leagues with 21 home runs, hit a three-run homer in a series-opening win Tuesday. Markakis hit his fourth homer against rookie starter Nick Martinez (1-2) in the third. The left-handed hitters go-ahead single came off Aaron Poreda, a lefty brought in to face him. "It doesnt really matter with Nick," manager Buck Showalter said. "There are so few in baseball that left and right doesnt matter." Beltre, who drove in all five Texas runs, gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead with an opposite-field shot off the facing of the upper deck in right field in the first inning and went the other away again in the fifth for his eighth homer of the season. Beltres tying shot came after Norris was hit on the right forearm on a one-hopper by Mitch Moreland that turned into a single. After a lengthy chat with manager Buck Showalter and the trainer, Norris stayed in and got two quick strikes on Beltre, who fouled off three more pitches before sending a line drive into the Texas bullpen for his third homer in two nights. "When Beltre goes to punching the ball out of the ballpark, he does it in bunches," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He put us on his back. We just couldnt put enough runs across the board to help." Norris left the game after the inning with a right forearm contusion. "Im pretty sore," Norris said. "You dont know where you want to get hit, but I guess its the forearm. I got some muscle on it so I guess you could look at it that way." Both of Sardinas errors led to runs. He dropped a popup with two outs in the first, and Cruz scored on a single by Adam Jones. A throwing error in the third came before another run-scoring single by Jones and a sacrifice fly from J.J. Hardy. Andrus grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the sixth and stayed in at shortstop. NOTES: Orioles RHP Miguel Gonzalez was scratched from his Thursday start in Texas and replaced by RHP Chris Tillman. Gonzalez is nursing soreness on his right side, but theres no diagnosis. He was scheduled for an MRI. ... The Rangers observed a moment of silence for Don Zimmer, who died Wednesday. He managed the Rangers in 1981 and part of 1982. ... Orioles closer Tommy Hunter (left groin strain) will pitch in a simulated game Thursday after getting through fielding practice with no issues. Air Force 1 Mid Cheap .A. Happ. The Toronto Blue Jays will be looking to improve the starting rotation ahead of next season and pitchers like Happ have a chance to show they belong as the disastrous 2013 campaign draws to a close. Nike Cortez Womens Sale . With nothing tangible at stake, the Raptors turned in their most impressive outing of the fall in their seventh and second to last exhibition tilt against their stiffest competition yet, but they lost a couple starters in the process. http://www.nikeshoesoutletwholesale.com/nike-air-vapormax-sale/vapormax-2019-cheap.html . After Mariota was pushed around by Stanford on Thursday, finishing 20/34 with 250 yards and two touchdowns in Oregons Title hope-crushing defeat, hes going to need a poor performance or two from the remaining frontrunners to have a shot at the most coveted individual trophy in college sports.TORONTO – High above the ice, while practice took place on Thursday afternoon in Toronto, stood Maple Leafs general manager Dave Nonis. He watched his team work through various drills, hash out lingering points of confusion and prepare for the latest biggest game of the year - a Friday clash with the Philadelphia Flyers. Nonis can do nothing, however, to affect the fortunes of his skidding team at this very late stage in the season, one tumbling precariously close to another late-season collapse. "Eight games left," said Phil Kessel, shortly before departure to Philadelphia. "Weve got to win some games and get in the playoffs here." "This is desperation time," Nazem Kadri added. "Were playing for our lives, so weve got to go start acting like it." It was exactly two years ago that the 18-wheeler of 2012 officially crashed for good. Losing for a stunning 19th time in 24 games against the Carolina Hurricanes on a late March night, the Leafs were eliminated from the postseason, the culmination of an epic unraveling that would cost Ron Wilson his job. Can they avoid a similar and yet perhaps more stinging fate this time around? The thought would have been almost unthinkable only two weeks earlier, but with six straight losses - all in regulation - and not a single point gained, the Leafs are indeed facing that reality. With a blink or two of the eye, theyve been passed by seven teams, now trailing the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets for the final two wild card positions, and are in danger of fumbling away a second-straight trip to the postseason. Aspirations of capturing second spot in the Atlantic Division and home-ice advantage in the first round have been replaced by simply making it outright. The shift has been stunning. "I know right now it seems like were at a low point, but we will come through it," said captain Dion Phaneuf, speaking after a near 90-minute practice in Toronto, his performance and subsequent absence afterward a point of much consternation just a couple days earlier. "Im not going to stand here and say that weve played well. We havent. We havent won games, but theres been stretches that weve done some good things, we just havent found a way to win a game and were going to have to do that Friday." The pressure to do so has never been higher. At some point, the pit of despair becomes just too deep to dig out of, the snowball too large to stop from rolling. That was the case for the club in 2012. Adidas Ultra Boost Outlet. Four straight early February losses rapidly morphed into nine of 10, a souring fan-base and the sudden dismissal of Wilson. Things would get no better in the early days of Carlyles tenure with 10 more losses in the next 14 games, including the aforementioned knockout blow on March 27. "Theres pressure in any situation like this," said Kessel, "[but] weve just got to bounce back. If we can get a couple wins here, it would be positive for our group. Weve just got to keep going then." Fear of it all slipping away has seemingly seeped in. Head coach Randy Carlyle observed "tenseness" in the early stages of Tuesdays loss to St. Louis, pushing his club to be more assertive against Philadelphia, currently third in the Metropolitan Division - three points ahead of Toronto. "If youre going to stand there and youre in a street fight and youre not going to move, youre going to allow somebody to swing away, youre going to get hit," said Carlyle. "But if you move and try to avoid the hit and do what you do youre not going to get hit as many times, simple as that." Starts have become the most obvious foe to success during the two-week slide, early and often deep deficits too much to overcome. "So we have to move ourselves," said Carlyle. "We have to move our feet, we have to continue to move the puck effectively, we have to skate … Those are the things that we have to correct and we have to correct it for [Friday] night." "Were starting the games terrible," Kessel said. "Were getting down a couple goals. Theyre out-playing us the first half of the game and then all of a sudden we wake up and we come [back] and its just too late." The same could be said of their playoff fortunes. A collapse under these circumstances might pale in comparison to 2012, given their comfortable state with just weeks to go - they were up three points on the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning as recently as two weeks ago, now trailing both by a wide margin - and the heightened expectations of a club seemingly on the rise. Its a sting they wont want to experience again. "It snowballed on us," Phaneuf said after that season-sealing loss to Carolina two years ago. "We lost a lot of tight games and we just could not recover or find a way out of it as a group." Will they this time around time around? The answer will come soon enough. ' ' '