Christian Vazquez smacked a three-run homer and the Minnesota Twins extended their winning streak to nine games by beating the host Baltimore Orioles 6-3 in the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday afternoon.
Brooks Lee also homered for the Twins. It was the first homer of the season for Vazquez, who joined teammates Trevor Larnach, Carlos Correa and Lee with two hits apiece.
Six Minnesota pitchers combined on a four-hitter, helping to mitigate the Orioles drawing six walks and the Twins committing four errors.
Gunnar Henderson, who had two of Baltimore’s hits, smacked a two-run homer in a three-run third inning. Ryan Mountcastle had the other two hits. The Orioles have lost seven of their last nine games.
Four of Minnesota’s victories in the winning streak have come against the Orioles.
Minnesota starter Bailey Ober lasted 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on two hits and three walks. He struck out three. Brock Stewart (1-0) was awarded the victory, striking out three in the sixth inning.
Dean Kremer (3-5) logged 5 2/3 innings for the Orioles, giving up four runs on seven hits.
The Orioles took the lead on Mountcastle’s RBI double in the third before Henderson’s sixth home run of the season. The advantage didn’t last long.
Lee homered to put the Twins on the board in the fourth, and later in the inning Vazquez gave them the lead.
The Twins tacked on two runs in the ninth inning, the first coming on Larnach’s double and the other on reliever Keegan Akin’s wild pitch.
The Orioles put two runners on base with two outs in the seventh before Ryan O’Hearn lined out to end the inning. They had two more base runners in the eighth before Griffin Jax struck out Ramon Urias.
Baltimore had at least one runner on base in every inning except for the second.
The twin bill was necessary after Tuesday night’s postponement.
