Minnesota Twins defeat the Baltimore Orioles 5-3 – MLB Update
The Minnesota Twins continued their winning streak by defeating the Baltimore Orioles 5-3 at Oriole Park, Baltimore, on 18
April.
Drew Butera took three RBIs on two hits to life the momentum of the Twins. It was an outstanding moment for Butera in the current season because he did not strike three RBIs in any game.
The morale of the players was boosted with that convincing victory. Butera said, "It's how you respond back and how you play during those that makes the season. You're going to have it; might as well get it out of the way. Hopefully, these two wins will
get us on that roll that we need to go in the right direction."
Butera got a spot in the Twins’ roster due to leg surgery of Joe Mauer, who was on the disabled list. Butera started his batting with an average of .133 including an RBI single and ended up in the two-run double and a solo RBI in the ninth inning. Danny
Valencia posted a run after the single taken by Butera.
The Twins’ starter Francisco Liriano struck out two pinch-hitters in the seventh inning to confirm the victory for his team. Liriano gave up the single homer to Matt Wieters and Adam Jones in the seventh inning after the Twins led off with 3-0. Liriano allowed
two runs on five hits and gave five walks in seven innings. It was the first game when he pitched seven innings, as otherwise he threw until the sixth inning in the last three starts with an ERA of 9.42.
Liriano talked about his improvement as he said, “A lot different. I got better control of my fastball today and I was throwing my changeup better than my last couple starts. Location is the most important thing for me, and I think I was locating my fastball
better today.”
In the ninth inning, the Twins took a lead of 5-2 by scoring runs against Kevin Gregg. The Twins’ closer Matt Capps played a crucial rule as he gave up just one homer to Luke Scott and threw in the ninth inning for his second save. Capps joined the team
in place of Joe Nathan, who did not perform well against the Tampa Bay Rays during the last week.
On the other side, the Orioles posted runs in the second and third inning as their runners got out in the first inning. They got two runs by the usual fly-hit of Derrek Lee towards centre-field position off Jim Hoey, who had only one strike-out. The Orioles’
starting pitcher Chris Tillman threw six innings and allowed three runs on six hits. This effort was not enough to nip the rivals.
Tags: