Orioles get off to fast start in victory over Twins
Gunnar Henderson went 3-for-5 with a double and a two-run homer, and the Baltimore Orioles held on for a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
Pete Alonso finished 3-for-4 with a two-run homer for Baltimore, which pulled even in the three-game series with the rubber match slated for Wednesday. Christian Encarnacion-Strand went 3-for-4 with a solo homer.
Brooks Lee went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI to lead Minnesota at the plate. Alan Roden also drove in a run.
Orioles right-hander Brandon Young (9-3) held the Twins to two runs (one earned) on six hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out four.
Twins right-hander Bailey Ober (7-4) allowed five runs on eight hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out four.
Orioles right-hander Andrew Kittredge pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his sixth save.
The Orioles jumped out to a 2-0 lead within the first five pitches of the game. Henderson hit a leadoff single, and Alonso followed in the next at-bat with a two-run blast to left-center field.
Alonso's 418-foot shot marked his 26th homer of the season and his third in the past three games.
Baltimore doubled its lead in the second. Yohel Pozo reached on a one-out infield single, and Henderson delivered in the next at-bat with a two-run homer to right to make it 4-0.
Minnesota loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the second but came away with only one run. Roden hit an RBI groundout to cut the deficit to 4-1, and Kaelen Culpepper and Trevor Larnach hit back-to-back groundouts to squander the scoring opportunity.
The Orioles' power surge continued in the third as Encarnacion-Strand crushed a 460-foot solo home run to center. The blast soared over the visitors' bullpen in left-center field and made it 5-1.
The Twins pulled within 5-2 in the bottom of the third. Lee doubled to right to drive in Ryan Jeffers.
--Field Level Media