MINNEAPOLIS _ When C.J. Cron belted a two-run home run in the sixth, the Twins led 3-2 and the first baseman who was claimed off waivers appeared to have saved the day.
All he did was provoke his teammates.
The Minnesota Lumber Company turned on the power again, swatting five more homers on the way to a 9-2 pounding of the Orioles, which is becoming redundant. It's their 11th consecutive victory over Baltimore going back to last season. Cron was 2 for 4 in the game and how has five home runs and 14 RBIs in his first season with the Twins.
After Cron's home run, the flood gates opened as the Twins smashed three more home runs to turn the game into a laugher. Fans got their core work in from rising out of their seats to celebrate home runs, so everyone was happy on Saturday.
Except the Orioles, who have given up 21 home runs in five games to the Twins. It's one shy of the club record against the Orioles in a season, set in 1962 and 1964.
Jose Berrios struck out eight over six innings to improve to 4-1 on the season while joining a handful of American League starters with four wins.
He wasn't his sharpest on Saturday, as eschewed his curveball at times and went after Baltimore with just his 91-94 miles per hour fastball and changeup that fades away from left-handed hitters.
But the Orioles got a RBI single by Rio Ruiz in the fourth and a RBI single in the fifth by Hanser Alberto to take a 2-1 lead. Up to that point, the Twins had some good at bats develop into nothing. But that was about to change.
Nelson Cruz led off the sixth with a double to right. Eddie Rosario, at the end of a nine-pitch at-bat, hit a fly ball deep enough to center to allow Cruz to advance to third.
That brought up Cron, who hit a career-high 30 home runs in 2018 but was placed on waivers by Tampa Bay. The Twins saw an opportunity to add cheap power and pounced, claiming him and then signing him to a $4.8 million contract.
Cron got ahead 2-1 against Orioles lef-thander Paul Fry then fouled off three pitches before running the count full. Fry threw a slider that broke back over the middle of the plate, and Cron rifled it into the seats in left for a two-run homer and 3-2 lead. Cron worked Fry for a nine pitch at bat _ the sixth time the Twins had a plate appearance last as long as nine pitches. In addition to Cron and Rosario, Jorge Polanco twice had eight-pitch at bats, Marwin Gonzalez had one last eight and Jonathan Schoop battled for nine pitches in another.
While Polanco has proven that he can stack quality at-bats, the experience that Cron, Schoop, Cruz and Gonzalez have brought to the lineup has made it a tough group to consistently pitch effectively against.
Cron became the fifth Twins player to have hit five home runs this season _ and it wasn't that way for long.
Max Kepler hit a two-run home run off of Tanner Scott in the seventh, becoming the sixth Twin with at least five home runs. Gonzalez broke a 0-for-19 slump with a towering home run to right in the eighth. That was the first of three homers in the inning, as Jason Castro hit a two-run homer and Kepler hit his second of the game, a long drive into the seats in right.
