MINNEAPOLIS — Anthony Santander hit two of Baltimore's six homers and the Orioles completed a sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a 15-2 victory on Sunday.
Aaron Hicks added a three-run homer against his former team in the Orioles' seven-run fifth. Austin Hays, Ramón Urías and Adley Rutschman also went deep for Baltimore.
After scoring seven runs in the fifth, the Orioles’ offense continued to roll in the sixth with six more runs. Rutschman — who will compete in the home run derby on Monday in Seattle — launched a 461-foot two-run blast in the top of the sixth off Twins reliever Cole Sands.
Santander followed with a solo shot, the first time this season the Orioles hit back-to-back home runs. He homered again in the seventh for his team-leading 16th of the year.
It’s the second time in four games Baltimore scored at least 14 runs. They scored 14 against the Yankees in the series finale Thursday.
Baltimore heads into the break with a 54-35 record, two games behind first-place Tampa Bay in the American League East. The loss dropped the Twins to 45-46, a half game back of Cleveland in the AL Central.
Former Twin Kyle Gibson (9-6) was sharp against his old club. The right-hander struck out 11 and allowed just three hits in seven innings, two of them to Edouard Julien. The Twins second baseman drove in the game's first run with a double in the first and hit a solo homer in the sixth.
Baltimore chased Twins starter Joe Ryan (8-6) from the game after just 4 2/3 innings. Ryan finished with a season-high 10 strikeouts, including the first eight outs he recorded. But he ran into trouble in the fifth before getting pulled after 98 pitches.
TRAINERS ROOM
Orioles: Prior to Sunday’s game, Baltimore activated infielder Ryan Mountcastle (vertigo) from the 10-day injured list and optioned LHP Bruce Zimmermann to Triple-A Norfolk. Mountcastle hadn’t played since June 8 and was officially placed on the IL on June 13. He wasn't in the starting lineup Sunday but had a pinch hit RBI single in the fifth inning.
Twins: INF Jorge Polanco, who hasn’t played since June 8 with a left hamstring strain, could begin his rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul as soon as next weekend, said Derek Falvey, the Twins’ President of Baseball Operations. “All signs really point to good news,” Falvey said.
UP NEXT
Both teams enter the All-Star break.
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