Positives not enough
O’s lose third straight despite quality start, Schoop’s two homers
MINNEAPOLIS – This time a year ago, the Orioles and Twins met in Minnesota as postseason contenders, but their four-game series at Target Field this week possesses far less intrigue.
A lot has changed since last year’s July meeting. Instead of posturing for position, they are two teams trying to dig themselves out of their deep first-half holes.
The Orioles’ fate has long been determined, but Thursday night’s series-opening 5-2 loss to the Twins at Target Field – their 10th defeat in their past 11 games — offered some positives, but also more reasons for frustration.
Second baseman Jonathan Schoop, mired in a season-long slump, hit a pair of loud solo homers, but those blasts accounted for the entire Orioles offense as they scored three or fewer runs for the 33rd time in their past 44 games.
Andrew Cashner recorded another gritty quality start, holding the Twins to three runs over six innings, for his sixth quality start in his past eight outings. But the Orioles (24-62), on pace for one of the worst seasons in baseball history, have won just one of those starts, and are 4-13 in games Cashner’s started even though nine of his 17 starts have been quality.
The Twins (36-48), coming off a road trip in which they lost eight of nine, received a fine outing from right-hander Aaron Slegers, recalled from Triple-A to make his fourth career major-league start Thursday. Slegers, who entered the day with a 5.66 ERA in five big league outings, held the Orioles to just one run on three hits over six innings and received his first major league win.
But the difference in the outcome of Thursday’s game might have been the plays made on defense.
Cashner, whose has been given the worst run support among all the Orioles’ starters, failed to catch a toss from first baseman Chris Davis while covering first base on No. 9 hitter Bobby Wilson’s grounder to Davis in the third inning.
Davis’ throw hit off Cashner’s glove while the pitcher was in mid-stride and sailed into foul ground, allowing Jake Cave, who hit a leadoff double to open the inning, to score and put Wilson at second. Two batters later, Wilson scored on Eddie Rosario’s RBI single to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.
The only other run off Cashner came on Logan Morrison’s leadoff homer in the fourth.
Schoop recorded his first multihomer game since Game 1 of a May 12 doubleheader, taking Slegers into the second deck in left field to open the fifth inning and hitting another out to left-center on a full-count slider from Twins reliever Addison Reed in the seventh.
The Twins made several fine defensive plays. Max Kepler made a lunging catch on Caleb Joseph’s sinking line drive to right that would have put two on with no out in the third. Kepler also made a leaping grab against the high right-field wall to take away a hit from Trey Mancini in the seventh after Schoop’s second homer.