Orioles Hit 3 Home Runs And beat Twins 6-0
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Chris Davis, Adam Jones and Steve Pearce homered and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Minnesota Twins 6-0 Sunday.
Wei-Yin Chen pitched five strong innings before leaving with a strained right oblique, and the Orioles won for the sixth time in eight games.
Chen (3-3) was breezing through the Twins lineup, allowing no runs and five hits while striking out three in five innings.
He has allowed no more than three runs in seven of his eight starts this year.
Tommy Hunter, Darren O'Day, Brian Matusz and Pedro Strop combined for four innings of three-hit relief for Baltimore.
Looking for his fifth straight quality start, Scott Diamond (3-3) struggled all day. In 5 2-3 innings, he allowed nine hits and tied a career high by giving up six earned runs.
Nick Markakis and Manny Machado began the game with singles and after Jones grounded into a double play, Davis unloaded a 442-foot shot to straightaway center field. His 11th homer made it 2-0.
Chris Snyder had an RBI single in the second, but ended the inning when he was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first on a double by Markakis.
Markakis went 2 for 4 and is hitting .519 (27 for 52) against Minnesota since the start of last season. It is the highest average by any major league hitter with at least 40 plate appearances against any opponent in that span.
Markakis also had an outfield assist in the second, throwing out Justin Morneau, who tried to stretch a single into right into a double.
Jones lined a solo home run to left in the third, with the ball ricocheting off a railing just over the wall and up into the second deck.
Baltimore loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but could only push across one run -- on Davis' groundout -- to make it 5-0.
Pearce hit a solo homer in the sixth.
Four times in the first five innings, Minnesota's leadoff man singled, but the Twins failed to score. Brian Dozier was caught stealing, Morneau was thrown out by Markakis, Joe Mauer was stranded at first and Trevor Plouffe stuck at second.
NOTES: Minnesota was shut out for the second time this season. Baltimore recalled LHP Mike Belfiore from Triple-A Norfolk as a corresponding roster move for optioning RHP Steve Johnson to the Tides after Saturday night's game. ... The Twins have allowed 37 first-innning runs, more than double any other inning total. ... Twins SS Pedro Florimon missed his third straight game with a tight right hamstring. ... Minnesota's Pedro Hernandez (1-0) is scheduled to face Chicago's Hector Santiago (1-1) when the Twins and White Sox start a three-game series Monday in Minnesota. ... Baltimore's Chris Tillman (3-1) is scheduled to get the ball Tuesday when the Orioles welcome San Diego to Camden Yards. Andrew Cashner (2-2) is the Padres' scheduled starter.
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
