Ryan Mountcastle hit two of Baltimore’s five solo home runs as the Orioles beat the visiting Minnesota Twins 5-3 on Thursday night to salvage a split of the four-game series.
Austin Hays broke a tie with a one-out homer in the eighth inning, and Mountcastle followed with his second blast of the game.
Cedric Mullins and Jorge Mateo also homered for the Orioles. Mountcastle doubled his home run total for the season as he now has four.
Jorge Lopez (3-1) earned the win by logging the last 1 1/3 innings. That was part of 4 1/3 scoreless innings compiled by four Orioles relievers.
Byron Buxton homered and knocked in three runs for Minnesota. The Twins had won 11 of 12 games before losing to the Orioles on consecutive nights.
Baltimore hadn’t scored against Minnesota relievers in any of the first three games of the series, but the final three homers in Thursday night’s contest came against the Twins’ bullpen.
Jhoan Duran (0-1) gave up the final two blasts and took the loss.
Twins starter Chris Archer went four innings and allowed two runs, but he remained without a decision with his new team. He exited after throwing 76 pitches.
Mountcastle began the scoring with a second-inning home run. The Twins tied the game on Buxton’s fielder’s choice grounder in the third.
In the bottom of the third, Mullins homered for the second game. Buxton’s two-run homer gave the Twins a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning.
The Orioles responded in the bottom of the frame. Mateo, the first batter to face reliever Caleb Thielbar, homered for the first time this year.
The score didn’t change until Baltimore’s two homers in the eighth.
Max Kepler had three hits for Minnesota, while Gary Sanchez had a pair of hits. Mullins, Hays and Mountcastle each had to of Baltimore’s 11 hits.
Orioles starter Spenser Watkins did not factor into the decision. He gave up three runs and seven hits over 4 2/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
