MLB Game Preview - Baltimore at Minnesota

Sun Apr 28, 2019 2:10 PM EDT

When Minnesota plays the Orioles this season, the home runs keep coming -- for the Twins, that is, who now have hit five in each of the first two games of the weekend series.

In fact, they have clubbed 21 homers in the first five games of the season series with visiting Baltimore.

Can the Twins continue that torrid pace in the series finale Sunday afternoon?

Minnesota did not hit a homer until the sixth inning Saturday but got one in that frame, another in the seventh, plus three more in the eighth and rolled to a 9-2 victory over the slumping Orioles. They'll try to keep going in the series finale.

The Twins have hit five homers twice, eight homers once and three homers in another game against Baltimore. They even had one game where there were no home runs, so Minnesota just keeps on blasting against the young and inexperienced Baltimore staff.

After Friday's five-home run output, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli kept things simple.

"The guys swung the bats well, I don't know any other way to say it," he said when talking with the media. "The at-bats were good."

They were strong once again on Saturday as the Twins now have hit 47 homers in their first 24 games, per MLB.com's stats. If Minnesota keeps belting homers at that pace, the Twins would finish with over 300 this season.

MLB.com said the team record for one season -- for any franchise-- is 267, set last year by the Yankees. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune noted that the Twins' mark is 225, and that was set in 1963.

Max Kepler hit two on Saturday (one in the seventh, one in the eight) while C.J. Cron, Jason Castro and Marwin Gonzalez each homered once. So far this season, Nelson Cruz and Eddie Rosario both have hit four homers against the Orioles while Cron has banged out three.

The only bad news from Saturday was that Willians Astudillo had to leave after the third inning Saturday with left hamstring tightness and was placed on the 10-day injured list after the game.

Baltimore's best news of the day looking forward also came on the injury front. Top hitter Trey Mancini (.355, 39 hits, leading the AL in hits coming into the game) left in the first inning after blooping a single to center. He appeared to have injured his hand or his wrist.

After the game, on MASN's broadcast, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said that Mancini is day-to-day thanks to a contusion on a right hand finger-tip.

"We dodged a bullet there, big time," Hyde told MASN. "It's just a contusion. The X-rays came back negative."

Hyde said there will probably be some soreness on Sunday, so it doesn't sound like Mancini will be in the starting lineup, but time will tell.

The manager also did not know what to say about all of the homers against Minnesota -- and everyone else -- so far this season. Baltimore has given up 69 homers in 28 games, by far the worst in the majors as the Orioles are giving the opposition too many pitches to hit.

"I think it's a lot of things ... that are going into it," Hyde told MASN. "We're taking our lumps early, and I'm hoping we're going to improve."

On Sunday, Dylan Bundy (0-3, 6.56 ERA) will pitch for Baltimore against Minnesota's Kyle Gibson (1-0, 6.10).

Bundy made it through six innings in his last start last Sunday, giving up four runs (two earned) but no homers in a loss to the Twins. Gibson gave up two runs in six innings and got his first win this season.

For Bundy, he's now 0-4 with a 4.60 career ERA against the Twins in six games, five of which were starts. Gibson is 5-2 with a 4.69 ERA in 10 career games (all starts) against Baltimore.

--Field Level Media