Orioles 6, Twins 2: Stealing the Spotlight

There wasn’t a whole lot to say about this one, as a 6-run second inning for the visiting Orioles took all the wind out of Minnesota’s sails — despite outhitting the Orioles 9-6, the Twins couldn’t cash in runners when it counted, and dropped the second game of the Baltimore series by a 6-2 final.

Sonny Gray got slapped around in an unfortunate second inning. Three straight singles led to an RBI walk (on one of the more questionable ball-four calls you might hope to see); another walk followed, and a two-run single after that really got the line moving. The Orioles would take on another with a Gunnar Henderson RBI single, before Adley Rutschman would mercifully strike out for the first out of the inning.

Baltimore wasn’t done; yet another single would plate the O’s sixth run of the half-inning, before a liner to Donovan Solano turned into an inning-ending double play.

Solano’s is the other name to feature this afternoon... hitting cleanup, Donny Barrels went 3-for-4 with three doubles, knocking in the only run of the afternoon that didn’t come on a first-inning wild pitch, courtesy of Edouard Julien’s presence on third base with two outs.

To his credit, Gray would eat another four innings and keep Baltimore off the board for the rest of the day. His final line included five strikeouts and just six hits allowed through six innings, and his ERA is only now up to 2.89, which goes to show how impressive he’s been in prior starts.

Speaking of impressive, he’s got a cohort coming to Seattle with him next week. Today’s highlight was the announcement that Pablo Lopez had been added to the American League’s roster for Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.

The Twins have one more game to play ahead of the festivities on the west coast; hopefully, they can end the first half by salvaging one more win on this homestand. See you tomorrow afternoon!

STUDS:

2B Edouard Julien (2-for-4, R, 2B)

1B Donovan Solano (3-for-4, 3 2B, RBI)

CF Michael A. Taylor (2-for-3, BB, 2B)

DUDS:

SP Sonny Gray (6 IP, 6 ER, 3 BB, 5 K)

C Ryan Jeffers (0-for-4, K)

3B Kyle Farmer (0-for-4, K)

ROBOT ROLL CALL:

It was a 20-comment kind of game, y’know?