Orioles 5, Twins 2: Just when we were getting on a roll, they start hitting all the homers (simulated)

Today’s lineups:

MIN: Max Kepler RF, Jorge Polanco SS, Ehire Adrianza 1B, Miguel Sano DH, Luis Arraez 2B, Eddie Rosario LF, Willians Astudillo C, Marwin Gonzalez 3B, Byron Buxton CF, Kenta Maeda P

BAL: Denard Span LF, Anthony Santander RF, Trey Mancini DH, Rio Ruiz 3B, Renato Nunez 1B, Cedric Mullens CF, Hanser Alberto 2B, Jose Iglesias SS, Pedro Severino C, Michael Baumann P

I stand by my earlier statement about Willians Astudillo. He was the only Twin with multiple hits in this game. In fact, he was the only player on either side to accomplish that. The O’s just pecked away at Kenta Maeda a bit more than the Twins could keep up with at the plate.

In the second, it was a solo shot by Rio Ruiz that opened the inning. In the fourth, it was Denard Span who hit the solo shot.

The Twins got one of their own in the fourth though. Miguel Sano hit his 20th homer of the season (and second today) to close the gap to one run.

Fun fact: Willians Astudillo might want to show that fat people can run, but he didn’t do it tonight. He was caught trying to steal second in fifth (on the same pitch that Marwin Gonzalez struck out, so two outs on a pitch.) I should probably fire whichever coach greenlit that idea, right?

The fifth inning also saw the first run score via non-bomba hits. Cedric Mullens hit a double, and then scored when Pedro Cerrano Severino hit another double. Baltimore wrapped up their scoring in the next inning. Anthony Santander led off the sixth with a bunt single. Trey Mancini followed that by doing pretty much the exact opposite. His 2-run home run went 431 feet.

The Twins other run came in the seventh, when Marwin Gonzalez hit a double that brought in Willians Astudillo, who was on second after hitting a single, and then taking the second bag on the back end of a double steal. The double-steal was only half-successful though, as Luis Arraez was gunned down going from second to third.

Notes

• Am I the only one who things of Logan Schafer, the outfielder who played 26 games for the 2016 Twins everytime I see the name of Orioles reliever Jordan Schafer?
• Only two relievers were used in this game as well, Sergio Romo pitched 1.2 innings and Caleb Thielbar pitched 1.1. Paired with the off day yesterday, this actually doesn’t leave our bullpen in too bad of shape for the rest of the series.

STUDS:

Willians Astudillo: 2-4
Miguel Sano: 1-4, HR, RBI
Sergio Romo and Caleb Thielbar: combined 3 IP, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 runs

DUDS:

Kenta Maeda: 5 IP, 5 runs, 6 hits, 3 HR, 1 K
Ehire Adrianza: 0-4, 2 K, also 0-4 in the first game

Tomorrow: The series continues in Baltimore, first pitch at 6:05

Standings:
CHW 37-30 —
MIN 37-31 1/2
CLE 36-31 1
DET 32-34 4 1/2
KCR 24-43 13