Sonny Gray allowed six runs in the top of the second inning and the Minnesota Twins’ offense couldn’t recover as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Twins 6-2 on Saturday afternoon.
The Twins got on the board first after Eduoard Julien scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first inning but Gray allowed three straight singles to Ryan O’Hearn, Austin Hays and Aaron Hicks to open the top of the second inning.
Gray got squeezed by home plate umpire Ben May on a call low in the strike zone that allowed Colton Cower to drive in the first run of the game on a bases-loaded walk and Ramon Urias walked in the following at-bat to give the Orioles a 2-1 lead.
Adam Frazier, Gunnar Henderson and Anthony Santander each drove in runs with singles to complete the big inning but Gray didn’t allow a hit over his final four innings, closing his final start of the first half with six earned runs on six hits and three walks with five strikeouts over six innings.
Although Gray recovered, the hole was too big for the Twins’ offense. Despite the first-inning run, the Twins couldn’t crack Tyler Wells, who allowed two runs on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts over six innings.
Donovan Solano, who finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate, chipped into the lead with an RBI double but outside of Edouard Julien’s 2-for-4 performance, nobody could follow his lead as the Twins dropped the second game of the series.
The Twins are now 45-45 on the season and will look to end the first half on a high note when Joe Ryan (8-5, 3.42 ERA) makes the start against Kyle Gibson (8-6, 4.73 ERA) in the series finale on Sunday afternoon.
