MINNEAPOLIS—With home-field advantage clinched in the wild-card round, manager Brandon Hyde decided to rest some of his regulars in the next-to-last game of the season. Colton Cowser, Gunnar Henderson, Cedric Mullins and Jordan Westburg weren’t in the starting lineup.
Those absences didn’t matter as the Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-2, before 30,558 at Target Field on Saturday night.
Emmanuel Rivera had four hits and drove in four runs with two home runs and a double. He singled in the ninth. Ryan O’Hearn hit a two-run home run in the first, his second in as many games. Adley Rutschman’s run-scoring single in the second gave the Orioles (90-71) a 5-0 lead, and Rivera’s RBI double in the third made it 6-0.
Ryan Mountcastle’s sacrifice fly extended the lead to 7-0 in the fourth, and Rivera’s second home run made it 8-0 in the fifth. Rutschman’s infield out in the seventh scored the final run.
Matt Bowman was chosen as the Orioles’ opener. After he allowed a hit in 1 1/3 innings, Tucker Davidson (1-0), whose contract was purchased from Triple-A Norfolk on Saturday, pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings, giving up four hits, with a walk and two strikeouts.
Yennier Cano, Cionel Pérez pitched scoreless innings before Ryan Jeffers hit a two-run home run off Keegan Akin in the ninth. It was the Orioles’ ninth straight win over Minnesota.
The Twins (82-79) started Zebby Matthews (1-4), who struck out 114 and walked just seven in 97 minor league innings. He didn’t resemble a pitcher with those stats against the Orioles.
Matthews allowed six runs on seven hits, walking three and striking out five in three innings.