ARLINGTON -- Hearing Dane Dunning’s walk-out song -- “Kickstart My Heart” by Mötley Crüe -- in the fourth or fifth inning instead of in the minutes leading up to the start of the game is a different feeling for Rangers fans at Globe Life Field.

It’s a different feeling for Dunning himself, too, as he embarks on a new journey in a relief role for Texas. In the Rangers’ 7-2 loss to the Orioles on Tuesday, Dunning made his second appearance of the season, relieving struggling starter Andrew Heaney, and Dunning was in control the entire time.

The 28-year-old right-hander tossed four shutout innings to keep Baltimore at bay, allowing just two baserunners during his outing. It was the longest scoreless appearance by a Texas reliever since Taylor Hearn on June 25, 2022 against Washington.

Dunning has now thrown seven innings this season, allowing four hits and one walk but no runs in two relief appearances.

“Dane, he’s saved us and given us some length,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We got him stretched out, so you hate to lose a game like that, but that's the silver lining with what he did by being stretched out.”

Dunning said he’s felt more comfortable out of the bullpen than he expected, and he has even found himself adapting to the process of warming up as a reliever as opposed to a starter.

“Surprisingly, the last two outings I’ve been getting warmed up have been pretty quick,” Dunning said. “I mean, usually before starts, it takes me like 30 pitches or around there to get warmed up. I felt like these past two times, it's been like six pitches and I feel ready to go and I feel good. … I’ve kind of just been sticking to the plan that we go with. I got fortunate with a couple of pitches today, ones that I felt like I left middle-middle. I thought [Ryan Mountcastle] hit a homer off me to be honest. I’ve just really been trying to keep my balls down, miss barrels and just trying to execute each pitch, one pitch at a time, and it's been fortunate so far.”

Dunning also credits veteran relievers Ian Kennedy, Will Smith and Josh Sborz for their help and advice along the way as he seamlessly transitions to a bullpen role.

“They've been kind of, like, showing me the ropes of the bullpen and helping me out a lot, making sure that I'm ready for the innings that I need to be ready for,” Dunning said. “It's really all of them. The vets that have been going for a while, I’ve just been picking their brain on what I need to do to stay ready and be in the moment. They've really helped me out.”

Though Dunning relieved in college at the University of Florida, he was a starter for the majority of his Minor League career and had been a starter for the Rangers since he came to Texas as the headlining piece in a December 2020 trade that sent Lance Lynn to the White Sox. Before now, Dunning had only come out of the bullpen twice in his short big league career, both times early in the '21 season.

In 2022, Dunning posted a 4.46 ERA over 153 1/3 innings (29 starts) with 137 strikeouts and 62 walks but had season-ending hip surgery in September, which he was looking to rebound from in the rotation this year.

But because of a trio of free-agent signings this offseason -- Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Heaney -- Dunning found himself at the bottom of the rotation depth chart. He earned a spot in the bullpen out of Spring Training, but there was no telling how the transition would work for the right-hander, who admitted it wasn’t quite like riding a bike.

Even so, he’s looked right at home in the bullpen early in the season. There's no doubt Dunning will continue to have a key role in the bullpen going forward, and may even be the first guy up if any of the Rangers' starters go down with an injury.

“I love his pace, first of all,” Bochy added. “He gets the ball and goes. He’s got really good command of both sides with all his pitches. He attacks the zone, works ahead and gets a lot of ground balls. He keeps the ball on the ground a lot so, you know, all those things is why you have to like Dane.”