Cade Povich pitched very well into the sixth inning, and Ryan O’Hearn and Colton Cowser hit home runs as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Minnesota Twins 7-2 on Friday night, ending the Twins’ chances of making the playoffs.
With this win, the Orioles secured the top AL wild-card spot and will host either the Detroit Tigers or the Kansas City Royals in the first round next week.
“To get home field through the wild card is huge,” said Orioles manager Brandon Hyde. “We’re going to be pumped to play in front of our fans. There’s going to be a lot of energy and excitement in the ballpark.”
By the fifth inning, the Twins realized that the Tigers had won and the Royals had lost. They knew that winning would keep their playoff hopes alive, but they could only get two hits in the first eight innings and were behind 7-0.
At their best point this season on August 17, the Twins were 70-53 and had a five-game lead in the wild-card race. Since then, they have gone 12-25.
“It was clearly beyond a disappointing way to end a run and what was, and appeared to be, a promising season that we had going,” said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, whose team was the defending AL Central champions.
Povich (3-9) gave up just two hits and walked one while striking out two in 5 2/3 innings. This was his first career start against the team that drafted him in the third round of the 2021 draft. The Twins traded him to Baltimore the following year as part of a deal to acquire reliever Jorge Lopez.
“I’m just treating every start like it’s kind of a tryout for the postseason,” said Povich, who had a 2-2 record with a 2.60 ERA in five starts in September.
Twins starter Pablo López (15-10) allowed two runs on six hits with three walks and eight strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.
“It’s tough,” López said about the Twins’ collapse. “We were riding the high for so long. Everything was going well. Things were fun. Things were clicking. And then nothing was clicking.”
