Photo Gallery: Twins route Orioles 6-1
- Wally Langfellow
- Apr 27, 2019
- 4 min read
The Twins got a pair of homeruns from Nelson Cruz and solo homeruns from Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler and CJ Cron Friday night enroute to a 6-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
Photos by Bryan Singer
TWINS NOTES:
THE TWINS won the series opener against the Baltimore Orioles tonight by the score of 6-1, marking their seventh victory in series openers this season…extended their winning streak to 10 games against the Orioles, dating back to Opening Day 2018, their longest active winning streak against any opponent, and tied for their sixth-longest streak against any opponent…at home, the Twins are just over .500 against Baltimore all-time, besting the O’s 159-156 in the matchup, but are trailing the overall all-time series 299-332.
With the win, the Twins improved to 14-9 on the season…marks their best start since 2010 (also 15-8) through the first 23 games of the season…the best start by any Twins team came in 2001 when the Twins began 17-6.
Nelson Cruz, Eddie Rosario and C.J. Cron combined to hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning off O’s starter Alex Cobb.
The trio marked the first set of three consecutive home runs since Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe and Max Kepler turned the trick on June 26, 2016 at New York-AL off starter Nathan Eovaldi at Yankee Stadium.
Collectively hit five home runs, the third time this season in which the Twins have hit five home runs in a game, (April 9 at New York-NL and April 20-G2 at Baltimore)…did not record a single 5-homer game in 2018, and hadn’t recorded one such game since September 12, 2017 vs. San Diego (seven home runs)…each home run was a solo home run, marking the seventh time in Twins history (since 1961) the Twins hit 5+ solo home runs in a game, and first since June 26, 2016 at Yankee Stadium, (also the last time the Twins hit three consecutive home runs).
Collected five extra-base hits and have now recorded 98 of their 211 total hits (46.4 percent) as extra-base hits, the best rate in the Majors.
MARTÍN PÉREZ earned his third win of the season and dropped his season ERA to 4.44 (26.1 IP, 13 ER)…lowered his career ERA vs. Baltimore to 5.00 (54.0 IP, 30 ER).
Pérez threw 6.0 IP and has now thrown 495.1 IP over his career…since 2016, he ranks sixth among AL left-handers in IP behind Chris Sale (622.0), J.A. Happ (543.2), Dallas Keuchel (518.1), David Price (504.2) and CC Sabathia (496.1).
The lefty didn’t issue a walk in the start, snapping a six-game stretch with at least one walk issued, dating back to Sept. 23, 2018 vs. Seattle (as a member of the Texas Rangers).
NELSON CRUZ collected his fourth and fifth home runs of the season with homers in the first inning off Alex Cobb, a solo shot to center, and Gabriel Ynoa, a solo shot to right…is hitting .361 (92-for-255) with 20 2B, 17 HR, 58 RBI and a 1.080 OPS in 68 career games vs. BAL…hitting .484 (15-for-31) with 6 HR and 10 RBI in his last 8 vs. the O’s.
Marked his 29th career multi-HR game, and second of the year…since his debut in 2005, the 29 multi-HR games rank tied for ninth with José Bautista and Ryan Howard…the only players with more currently on a 25-man roster are Albert Pujols (48), Miguel Cabrera (37), Edwin Encarnacion (33), Giancarlo Stanton (32) and Ryan Braun (32).
EDDIE ROSARIO hit his 11th home run of the season in the first inning off Alex Cobb, the second of three consecutive home runs hit by the Twins, and has hit .313 (25-for-80) with 11 HR, 24 RBI and a 1.140 OPS since April 1.
C.J. CRON hit the third of three consecutive home runs in the first inning, the fourth of the season for Cron, and has hit safely in five straight against the Orioles, batting .412 (7-for-17) with two home runs and four RBI.
MAX KEPLER hit his fourth home run of the season in the fourth inning off Alex Cobb, a 439-foot blast to rightfield.
The 439 feet mark the third longest home run of Kepler’s career, trailing a 442-foot home run on August 2, 2016 off Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco and a 440-foot homer off Arizona’s Zack Godley on August 18, 2017.
Has hit safely in 14 of 15 career games vs. BAL, hitting .411 (23-for-56) with 6 2B, 6 HR, 17 RBI, 8 BB and a 1.359 OPS.
JONATHAN SCHOOP collected a single in the second inning and has now hit safely in each of the four games against his former team, batting .375 (6-for-16) with two home runs and an OPS of 1.287.
TREVOR MAY entered the game in the eighth inning with the bases loaded and stranded the runners and has stranded each of the five runners he has inherited on the year…in 2018, he stranded nine of the 16 runners he inherited.
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