Pablo Lopez threw five quality innings and Byron Buxton homered and drove in four as the Minnesota Twins posted a 9-1 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday in Minneapolis.
Lopez (3-2) allowed one run on two hits while striking out 11 and walking one. Carlos Correa went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs as Minnesota won the series opener and its third consecutive game.
Cade Povich (1-3) surrendered six hits and five runs while striking out four during his six-inning stint. Ryan Mountcastle drove in the lone Baltimore run with a fourth-inning double. The first baseman was one of just three Orioles to record a hit — Jackson Holliday and Heston Kjerstad singled — as Baltimore lost its third straight.
Lopez struck out the first three batters he faced and six of the first nine. Minnesota’s offense struck first in the third when Trevor Larnach and Willi Castro’s one-out singles were followed by Buxton’s RBI double.
Ryan Jeffers drove in a pair with a single to right before Correa launched a 458-foot two-run homer two batters later — his second of the year — giving the Twins a 5-0 lead.
Baltimore got one run back in the fourth when Mountcastle’s two-out double scored Gunnar Henderson, who drew a leadoff walk.
Danny Coulombe replaced Lopez in the sixth and threw a perfect frame before Louis Varland retired all three batters in the seventh.
Cionel Perez entered in the bottom of the seventh for Baltimore. Jonah Bride reached on third baseman Coby Mayo’s fielding error before Larnach struck out and Castro walked. Matt Bowman replaced Perez to gain the platoon advantage, but he surrendered Buxton’s three-run homer that extended Minnesota’s lead to 8-1.
Correa drove in the ninth run with a single that scored Ty France, who laced a two-out double.
Minnesota’s Jorge Alcala worked around one-out walks to Adley Rutschman and Ryan O’Hearn in the ninth to secure the victory.
–Field Level Media
