Eddie Rosario hit two home runs for the second consecutive game and Byron Buxton had a two-run double to lead the visiting Minnesota Twins to a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.
Rosario, who also reached over the fence at the 364-foot sign in left-center field to rob Chris Davis of a leadoff home run in the sixth, became just the third Twins player to have back-to-back multi-homer games, joining Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett (1987) and Don Mincher (1963). His eight home runs are the most by a Minnesota player in the first 17 games of the season, breaking a tie with Tony Oliva, who had seven in 1966.
Willians Astudillo also homered among two hits for Minnesota. Jose Berrios (3-1) allowed four runs, including three home runs, on eight hits over six innings to improve to 4-0 all-time against the Orioles. He walked three and struck out five.
Taylor Rogers struck out the side in the ninth and fanned five batters over two innings to earn his second save.
Dwight Smith Jr. hit a two-run home run, and Renato Nunez and Pedro Severino had solo homers for Baltimore. Smith, Nunez, Severino, Davis, Trey Mancini and Rio Ruiz each finished with two hits for the Orioles. Reliever Jimmy Yacabonis (1-1) took the loss, giving up three runs on two hits and a hit batter while recording only two outs. Starter Dan Straily gave up three runs on six hits in five innings, walking three and striking out four.
Rosario and Astudillo lead off the second inning with back-to-back home runs to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead. The Orioles rebounded to take a 3-2 lead in the third, also with back-to-back homers -- Smith's two-run shot followed by Nunez's drive over the glove of a leaping Buxton in center.
Rosario tied it at 3-3 in the fifth with a towering home run off the right field foul pole. The Twins then took a 6-3 lead in the sixth behind a two-run double by Buxton and an RBI single by Nelson Cruz.
Baltimore cut it to 6-4 in the bottom half of the inning on a solo homer by Severino and closed to within 6-5 in the eighth on an RBI double by Mancini.
--Field Level Media
Minnesota | Baltimore | |
Jose Berrios | Player | Dan Straily |
Win | W/L | No Decision |
6.0 | IP | 5.0 |
5 | Strikeouts | 4 |
8 | Hits | 6 |
6.00 | ERA | 5.40 |
Minnesota | Baltimore | |
Eddie Rosario | Player | Rio Ruiz |
3 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 0 |
2 | HR | 0 |
10 | TB | 2 |
.600 | Avg | .667 |