The Minnesota Twins will try to tame the Orioles' power brigade when they play at Baltimore on Wednesday afternoon in the finale of a three-game series.
The Orioles hit three home runs in each of the first two games of the series, winning 7-4 on Monday and 11-3 on Tuesday. Baltimore, which is riding a three-game winning streak, has scored 29 runs and hit 12 homers in the past four contests.
Trying to cool off those bats on Wednesday will be Minnesota right-hander Pablo Lopez (1-2, 4.86 ERA). He lasted only four-plus innings and allowed five runs in an 8-2 road loss to the Detroit Tigers on Friday.
The Orioles had yet to announce a starter.
One of the contributors to Baltimore's power surge is Ryan O'Hearn. He hit the final long ball on Tuesday, giving him homers in three consecutive games and four on the season.
"Our work in the cage is trying to get the ball in the air," O'Hearn said. "Things are rolling for me, and I just have to ride this as long as I can."
While the Orioles will be going for a three-game series sweep, the Twins will be attempting to snap a three-game skid.
"They swung the bat good," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of the Orioles after the Tuesday game. "There's certainly things we have to do better. We didn't make adjustments fast enough."
O'Hearn is generally in the lineup against right-handers, so that should put in the heart of the batting order again Wednesday against Lopez.
"My job is to be ready for just whatever," O'Hearn said.
The Orioles entered the season as one of the favorites in the American League, and they might be hitting a groove this week.
"That was one of our most complete games so far with what we did in every single area," Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. "The way we swung the bats with runners in scoring position ... with the power. The way we ran the bases. Grayson (Rodriguez on the mound) was very good. We played really good defense. There was a lot of real positives."
Despite giving up nine runs on Tuesday, Twins starting pitcher Chris Paddack made it into the sixth inning, helping preserve some of Minnesota's bullpen arms.
"He just wanted to do what he could to pitch as long as he could and get as many outs as he could," Baldelli said. "He got through a significant portion of the game. We got a full start out of him on a rough day."
A good start could be in line for the Twins on Wednesday. In two career outings against the Orioles, Lopez is 2-0 with an 0.82 ERA across 11 innings.
Another similar outing could help spark a turnaround.
"Everything feels wrong when you are not playing well," Baldelli said. "We are not playing good baseball."
The Orioles will have some pitching decisions and adjustments to make. Instead of starting the series finale, Tyler Wells is headed to the injured list with elbow inflammation and will have a couple of weeks off, Hyde said.
"After his last start, he had a little more soreness than normal and it didn't really go away," Hyde said. "We're staying optimistic about it, but we're really confident that he's going to be OK."
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