Sept. 28—Ryan O’Hearn and Colton Cowher hit home runs Friday night and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins 7–2 in Minneapolis.
Ryan Mountcastle went 3-for-5 for Baltimore (89-71), which won the first game of a three-game series. Anthony Santander was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Carlos Santana hit two runs to give Minnesota the lead (82-78). With this loss, the Twins were eliminated from the playoffs.
Orioles left-hander Cade Povich (3-9) allowed only two hits in 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He walked one and struck out two.
Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez (15-10) allowed two runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings. He gave up three walks and struck out eight.
The Orioles took a 2–0 lead in the first half of the second inning.
Adley Rutschman hit a leadoff single to left and O’Hearn hit a 399-foot home run to right. The two-run hit was O’Hearn’s 14th home run of the season, tying his career high in 2019 and 2023.
Cowher hit a solo home run in the seventh inning to extend the Orioles’ lead to 3–0. The blast matched O’Hearn’s 399-foot homer and was Cowher’s 24th blast of the season.
Baltimore scored four more runs in the eighth inning to make the score 7–0.
Ramon Urias started the scoring with an RBI single, allowing Jackson Holliday to score on a breakaway. Gunnar Henderson added the second run of the inning via a sacrifice fly to center.
In the next at-bat, Jordan Westerberg got an RBI hit. One got on base. Sanchez ended the inning with an RBI single to left. Just one man and that was it.
The Twins got on the scoreboard in the ninth inning. Carlos Correa doubled to left, Byron Buxton doubled, and Santana singled to right to load the bases with two outs.
Orioles reliever Serrantny Dominguez pitched the next three innings, ending the game and keeping the Twins’ playoff hopes alive. The loss to Minnesota cost the Kansas City Royals a chance to make the wild-card playoffs.
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