Photo Gallery: Twins beat Orioles

Twins beat the Orioles 5-2 at Target Field Thursday July 5. Photos by Paul Sinkler.  Click here for photo gallery

TWINS NOTES:

1. THE TWINS won the first of the three game series against Baltimore and the first of the 11-game homestand…snapped their six game losing streak and are now 3-10 in their last 13 games…improve to 3-1 against Baltimore this year and have won three straight over the O’s, improve to 9-3 in their last 12 games to the Orioles and 17-8 in their last 25…are now 6-11 against the AL East this year…improve to 21-20 at home and 10-18 in series openers…each of the Twins last five games have been decided by three runs or fewer and are 1-4 in those contests…improve to 23-34 in games decided by three runs or fewer this year…23-9 when they outhit their opponent.

2. AARON SLEGERS in his fourth career big league start, earned his first big league win after allowing one run on three hits and one walk with two strikeouts over 6.0 innings…earned his first quality start of the year and the second of his career…the one earned run is a career low…the 72 pitches is the fewest by a Twins starter in an outing that lasted at 6.0 innings this year (previous low 84 by José Berríos on April 18 against Cleveland over 7.0 innings).

3. EDDIE ROSARIO (1-for-4) singled and drove in a run in the third inning and is now hitting .325 (50-for-154) at Target Field this year, entered the day tied for ninth in the AL for best home batting average (Francisco Lindor).

4. JAKE CAVE (3-for-3) doubled twice and singled in the fourth for his third career multi-hit game and his second in his last five games…second career three-hit game…third game with multiple extra base hits and first with two doubles.

5. MAX KEPLER (2-for-4) doubled in the sixth inning and has now hit safely in 10 of 11 career games against Baltimore, hitting .405 (17-for-42) with six doubles and 13 RBI…15th multi-hit game this year.

6. LOGAN MORRISON (2-for-4) hit a solo home run and singled tonight, his eighth multi-hit game of the year…in 47 career games against the Orioles hitting .259 (41-for-158) with 18 extra base hits and 24 runs scored.

7. FERNANDO RODNEY earned his 18th save of the year and his 318th all-time, moving him into a tie for 20th on the all-time saves list with former Twin Rick Aguilera.

ORIOLES NOTES:

1. THE ORIOLES lost the first of the three game series to the Twins, are 1-3 against Minnesota this year and fall to 8-13 against AL Central opponents…managed only two runs and have scored 310 runs this year, second fewest in baseball…fall to 0-3 on the current road trip, scoring only five total runs, and 12-33 on the road this year; the Orioles have the fewest road wins in baseball…fall to 9-20 in series openers and 7-47 in games when they score fewer than three runs…are 8-36 when their opponent scores first and 10-24 in games in which they commit and error.

2. ANDREW CASHNER allowed three runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 6.0 innings and suffered the loss…has now lost four straight decisions, tying his longest losing streak of the season (April 17-May 16)…nine losses is now tied with James Shields for fourth most in the AL…the offense supplied him with one run and has only been given 28 runs of support this year; entered the day with a 2.73 run support average, third lowest in baseball…has been given three or fewer runs of support in 16 of 17 starts this year…made his eighth quality start of the year and the 41st by an Orioles starter this year; entered the day fifth in the AL in quality starts.

3. MANNY MACHADO (1-for-3) doubled in the first inning and now has a hit in 65 of his 84 games this year…now has 184 total bases this year, fifth in the AL…in 33 career games against the Twins, hitting .333 (45-for-135).

4. JONATHAN SCHOOP (2-for-4) hit two solo home runs tonight, his second multi-home run game this year and eighth of his career…all 10 of his home runs this year have been solo shots.

5. CHRIS DAVIS (0-for-4) struck out in the ninth inning and now has 1,305 career strikeouts, tying Cal Ripken Jr. for most in franchise history.