Orioles 2, Twins 1: No joy in Birdville

In the game thread today, I mused upon some Deadball Era figures. For most of this morning & afternoon, the Minnesota Twins & Baltimore Orioles played a deadball-esque contest.

Despite multiple attempts at scoring in the early innings that were largely thwarted by the CF defense of Cedric Mullins...

Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images

...the Twins got on the board first in the top of the fifth when Byron Buxton singled and was doubled home by Willi Castro. 1-0 Twins.

Thanks to Sonny Gray’s snappy breaking ball and ability to pitch out of jams...

Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images

...the score remained 1-0 entering the bottom of the eighth. But that’s when the Twins’ inability to add on to the bare minimum of scoring came back to haunt them.

After the usual Jhoan Duran whiff to start the frame, three consecutive singles—from Adley Rutschman, Anthony Santander, & Aaron Hicks (ugh)—tied the game at one-all. After an out was recorded, Duran—clearly struggling with his control—started 3-0 to Ryan O’Hearn before an intentional pass put him on the open first base. With the margin of error down to zero, Duran hit Jordan Westburg on the hand in the second pitch of that AB. 2-1 Orioles.

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Somewhat remarkably, Emilio Pagan would enter the game and clean up Duran’s mess, giving the Twins a fighting chance in top of the ninth. Sadly, it proved to be all “chance” and little “fight”, as Joey Gallo, Edouard Julien, & Alex Kirilloff fell victim to Ks of forward and backward varieties against O’s closer Felix Bautista.

Though succeeding in taking 2-of-3 from a solid Baltimore club overall, today the Twins failed to complete the sweep and again dropped below the .500 mark (42-43).

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Your final: Baltimore Orioles 2, Minnesota Twins 1. Enjoy the rest of this kind-sorta Fourth of July holiday weekend everyone!

Studs

• Sonny Gray (6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER)

Duds

• Jhoan Duran (0.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB) in a rare appearance this low in a recap
• All the bats—somehow turning 6 hits and 3 walks into just a single vertical scoreboard slash

Comment of the Game

Matt Monitto expresses the emotion of us all watching that 8th inning unravel.