BALTIMORE (AP) – Miguel Tejada and Nick Markakis homered, Melvin Mora had three hits, and Rodrigo Lopez led a strong pitching performance that carried the Baltimore Orioles past the suddenly punchless Texas Rangers 4-0 Sunday.

Lopez (6-10) gave up five hits and a walk in 5 2-3 innings to earn his first win in four starts since June 23. The right-hander came in with a 6.77 ERA after yielding an AL-high 89 runs in 19 appearances.

On Sunday, however, Lopez was too much for a struggling Texas lineup that has gone 23 straight innings without scoring an earned run. The Rangers beat Baltimore 15-1 in the opener of the four-game series Thursday, then won 2-1 before losing 8-1 on Saturday.

After Lopez left, Kurt Birkins pitched 1 1-3 hitless innings and Todd Williams worked a perfect eighth before Chris Ray closed out the five-hitter.

Gary Matthews Jr. had two hits for the Rangers, whose only run since the fourth inning of Friday night’s came courtesy of a Baltimore error.

Tejada gave Baltimore a 2-0 lead in the first inning with his 18th home run, a drive to left off John Wasdin (2-2) after Mora singled with two outs.

The Rangers mounted their initial threat in the fourth, using a walk and a single by Hank Blalock to put runners on first and second with two outs before Lopez retired Ian Kinsler on a grounder to short.

Baltimore went up 4-0 in the fifth. Markakis led off with his third homer, his first since April 14, a drive to right that came immediately after the rookie pulled Wasdin’s first pitch a few feet outside the foul pole.

Brian Roberts followed with a single. He stopped short while running to second on a botched hit-and-run, but the throw from catcher Rod Barajas skipped into center field. That allowed Roberts to take the base, and Mora hit an RBI single to end Wasdin’s afternoon.

Lopez gave up singles to Matthews and Michael Young in the sixth, then retired Mark Teixeira on a deep fly to center before Birkins got Blalock on a grounder to end the inning.

Notes: Baltimore’s Corey Patterson ended a 4-for-31 skid with a second-inning single. … Teixeira is 2-for-14 lifetime against Lopez; Matthews is 6-for-11 against the right-hander. … Texas made three errors, including two by Barajas on poor throws to second on attempted steals. … Young snapped an 0-for-11 run with his single in the sixth.

AP-ES-07-16-06 1628EDT