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Cedric Mullins' brilliant catch, home run spark Orioles' 7-4 win over Twins

Childs Walker, The Baltimore Sun on

Published in Baseball

BALTIMORE — Cedric Mullins had already left his frustrating start behind with a six-game hitting streak and a home run Sunday.

On Monday, the Orioles center fielder went supernova with a home run, three RBIs and one of the greatest catches of his career in a 7-4 win over the Minnesota Twins at Camden Yards.

The Orioles (10-6) spent much of last weekend on the wrong end of a hot offense visiting from Milwaukee. They turned bully in their series opener against the Twins with 12 hits, including home runs from Mullins, designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn and shortstop Gunnar Henderson. Five Orioles had at least two hits.

Not one of the blows made the home crowd of 14,611 bellow louder than it did for Mullins’ first-inning catch, which saw him sprint and leap parallel to the ground to snare a line drive that appeared certain to go over his head.

Orioles left-hander Cole Irvin, who entered with an 8.10 ERA, fell one out short of a potential decision but wiggled out of trouble enough — aided by that stupendous grab from Mullins and a timely 5-4-3 double play in the fourth inning — to produce his best start of the season.

“It’d be great if he could give us some length tonight,” manager Brandon Hyde said before the game, cognizant that he had used four relievers in Sunday’s win over the Brewers and that no Orioles starter had lasted more than five innings in the weekend series.

Hyde knew it might be an uphill climb against the defending American League Central champions and a lineup packed with eight right-handed hitters. But he hoped Irvin would use his cutter to pound the inside half of the strike zone.

It was Irvin’s sinker that nearly undid him in the first inning, when Twins shortstop Kyle Farmer lined it to deep left center with a runner on third and two out. But Mullins bailed him out with a leaping over-the-shoulder catch, perhaps the defensive play of the season to date. Irvin thrust both arms in the air with his mouth agape at Mullins’ brilliance.

Third baseman Jordan Westburg handed Irvin a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first with a two-out double off Minnesota starter Louie Varland.

 

Twins third baseman José Miranda answered with a 411-foot solo home run off an Irvin fastball in the top of the second, but O’Hearn pushed the lead to 3-1 with an even longer blast, 435 feet to center, off Varland in the bottom of the third. That meant O’Hearn was the first to imbibe from a new “hydration station” in the Orioles dugout, which features four spigots rather than the one available on the retired “homer hose.”

The Orioles added another run in the bottom of the third on a Mullins sacrifice fly that scored first baseman Ryan Mountcastle.

Irvin left with a 4-2 lead and two outs in the fifth, which meant another long night at the office for an Orioles bullpen that has been essential to the team’s winning start.

The Orioles led 7-2 after Henderson’s home run in the bottom of the sixth, but the Twins cut it to 7-4 on a two-run double from catcher Ryan Jeffers that handed reliever Keegan Akin his first two earned runs of the season.

From there, Yennier Cano and Craig Kimbrel finished off Minnesota, with Kimbrel pitching a perfect ninth inning for his fourth save of the season and 421st of his career.

With the victory, the Orioles guaranteed they would not be swept for a 97th consecutive series, the longest streak in AL history.

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©2024 The Baltimore Sun. Visit at baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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