MINNEAPOLIS _ Amid a revolving-door flurry of buttress-the-bullpen transactions, mostly caused by their six-game losing streak, the Twins wound up needing a fill-in starter to open the homestand. They settled on Aaron Slegers. In doing so, they ended the losing streak.
Slegers earned his first career victory on Thursday, allowing only three hits and a lone run over six innings as the Twins eked out their first victory in a week, 5-2 over the Orioles at Target Field.
The Twins, who scored only two runs in their final 23 innings at Milwaukee this week, didn't exactly batter Orioles starter Andrew Cashner, but they got to the Baltimore bullpen enough to put away a slump-busting win. Logan Morrison, batting .189 coming into the game, had his first two-hit night at Target Field since June 2. He smacked an outside fastball from Cashner the opposite way, drilling it five rows deep into the left-field seats for a solo home run in the fourth inning, then singled and scored during Minnesota's two-run eighth.
Max Kepler, who owned a .219 average, doubled and singled, and Jake Cave, hitting only .217, went 3-for-3 with a walk. He doubled and scored in the third inning, then doubled home Kepler in the eighth.
It was more than Slegers, who has started four games for the Twins but never more than once in any two-week period, would need. The 6-foot-10 right-hander appeared confident and competent all night, and he made only one major mistake against the last-place Orioles all night. Jonathan Schoop smashed that one far into the upper deck in left field, a home run that he would reprise two innings later against Addison Reed.
But Schoop's two-homer night couldn't dampen the enthusiasm of a victory-starved crowd of 23,895, who were standing as Fernando completed a spotless ninth inning to earn his 18th save _ but first since June 24, after back-to-back misfires on the Twins' 1-8 road trip.
Slegers was given the start on Thursday partly because the Twins have made so many changes to their pitching roster over the past couple of weeks. With Fernando Romero sent back to Class AAA Rochester to work on his command, and Adalberto Mejia forced back after a spot start in Wrigley Field because the Twins needed more bullpen help, Slegers was sort of a pitcher of convenience.
He may have earned a few more chances, too.
"We've got next Tuesday and the following Sunday as [vacant] for this slot. I can't tell you exactly [who it will be], only because originally when we brought up Mejia, we thought it would be more than one start," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "We're just going to see how it goes. Mejia's pitching tonight as well, so we have options, we know that."
After allowing only three baserunners to reach second base in his six-inning stint _ an outing that lasted only 72 pitches _ it figures that Slegers has earned at least one more chance.
The Twins took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Cave doubled, then scored when Bobby Wilson reached first when Cashner fielded his grounder but threw the ball past first baseman Chris Davis. Eddie Rosario followed by singling Wilson home.
In the eighth, with the Twins clinging to a 3-2 lead, Morrison singled to center, moved up on a ground out, then scored on Kepler's single to right, sliding home ahead of ex-Twin Danny Valencia's throw to the plate. Kepler then crossed home plate on Cave's second double of the night.
