Mullins shines with glove, bat
Outfielder’s diving catch, three RBIs lead Orioles past Twins
Cedric Mullins saved a run with an exceptional diving catch in deep left-center, then homered and drove in three runs for the Baltimore Orioles in a 7-4 home victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night.
As expected after this kind of performance, he was asked which contribution he appreciated more.
“The fellas say the catch was No. 1 that they’ve seen,” Mullins responded. “I’m going to take their word for it.”
Jordan Westburg drove in two runs during his third career threehit day, which came two days after his second. Ryan O’Hearn and Gunnar Henderson also homered for the Orioles, who have won five of their six series openers.
Dillon Tate (2-0) got Byron Buxton to pop out with runners on the corners to end the fifth and worked a clean sixth after Baltimore starter Cole Irvin allowed two runs in 4 ⅔ innings.
Yennier Cano worked 1 ⅔ scoreless innings and cleaned up Keegan Akin’s seventh-inning jam, and Craig Kimbrel worked a perfect ninth for his fourth save. It was the 421st save of Kimbrel’s career — one short of Billy Wagner for seventh all-time — and the veteran’s first time recording saves on back-to-back days for Baltimore.
Ryan Jeffers and Jose Miranda each had three hits and two RBIs for Minnesota. Miranda homered and singled in runs, while Jeffers doubled in both runners Cano inherited from Akin.
Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 prospect in baseball who was promoted last week, went 0 for 4 a day after getting his first major league hit. The 20-year-old Holliday is 1 for 19 in five games.
Nationals 6, Dodgers 4: Luis García Jr. hit a three-run homer, his first of the season, CJ Abrams also went deep and Washington won in Los Angeles.
García went opposite field with two outs in the fifth inning against Tyler Glasnow (3-1), who issued a two-out walk to Joey Gallo one batter before.
The Dodgers celebrated the 77th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier during an afternoon ceremony involving both teams at his statue in Centerfield Plaza. Every player around the majors wore Robinson’s retired No. 42 and fittingly, the Dodger Stadium attendance was 42,677.
Washington starter Mitchell Parker (1-0) allowed two runs and four hits in five innings during his major league debut. The lefthander struck out four and walked none after getting called up earlier in the day from Triple-A Rochester.
Kyle Finnegan pitched the ninth to earn his sixth save.