Baltimore Orioles Suffer Another Series Loss, This Time Against the Minnesota Twins

The Orioles never score runs for Shane Baz. Ever.

Wesnesday afternoon they staked him to an early lead, and he couldn’t hold it. That’s the 2026 Orioles, and this was yet another troubling road defeat. This team struggles away from home, they dropped a second straight series to a team they are chasing for a Wild Card, and lost, 7-5, to the Twins at Target Field.

They are now 58-63 (26-33 on the road) and put themselves in a less-than-ideal position heading to Tampa to face the American League-leading Rays. “We’re definitely aware of where we’re at in the season and in the standings” manager Craig Albernaz said. “We’re still in it but we also have to win games.”

Their struggles came from both sides of the field. It was a disappointing pitching performance from the both the starter and the first two relievers that followed him and the offense went five innings without recording a hit.

One to Forget

Baz has been a hard-luck case for the O’s, with lack of run support and poor defense behind him a big problem. While that wasn’t the case Wednesday, his five earned runs in three innings pitched left much to be desired.

The righty never got in rhythm with his pitch mix, and as a result left breaking balls over the plate or often threw uncompetitive pitches way off the plate. He never got his fastball velocity up like usual and the Twins lineup had no issue taking it opposite field or pulling the ball to the gap.

Baz left the game with nine hits and two k’s and is now 4-12 on the season. Baltimore is 6-18 in his starts.

Most of the Twins’ surges came in the third. It started with a Royce Lewis double, followed by singles from Josh Bell, Kody Clemens, and Brooks Lee. A sac fly and two more hits after that gave the Twins a 5-4 lead.

It wasn’t soft contact either, Bell and others were able to get under the ball relatively easily to knock it to the outfield.

“I was kind of just in the zone and not executing pitches where I wanted,” Baz said. “And they kept putting the ball in play and finding holes. Just one of those days where you’re not feeling good.”

Baz will have to adjust and gain some confidence before his next scheduled start for the Yankees series.

The bullpen had a cold start but quickly settled in. Cam Sanders was the first to follow Baz, giving up four hits and two runs in an inning and a third. After that, three more relievers would come in and only give up one hit.

Inconsistent Hitting

The lineup came out of the gates hot. The O’s took a quick 1-0 lead in the first after a Jackson Holliday fielder’s choice drove in Gunnar who reached on a walk.

The real explosion occurred in the third, starting with singles from Pete Alonso and Tyler O’Neill. In a shock of events, Dylan Beavers pulled a ball over the right field wall for a three-run homer, his first bomb in 151 plate appearances.

The top of the seventh saw the return of a face that holds quite the grudge against the Orioles.

The Twins brought in Jeff Hoffman, whom the O’s rejected a few years ago due to medical concerns. He is notorious to O’s fans for blowing a kiss towards the dugout out of disrespect when he was with the Blue Jays. He got the last laugh again Wednesday.

Hoffman gave up two consecutive walks followed by a wild pitch but ultimately got out of the inning unscathed.

The O’s wouldn’t score again until the ninth with a Leody Taveras solo home run, but it was already too late. A blink and you miss it double play from Colton Cowser put a lid on the series.

“They did a good job keeping us off balance,” Albernaz said. “We had a tough time - especially later in the innings - getting the lead off guy on.”

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