FORT MYERS, Fla. — Jose Miranda lined a Grayson Rodriguez fastball onto the left-field berm in the second inning, extending his home-run streak to three consecutive Grapefruit League at-bats, and the Twins rallied with two runs runs in the bottom of the ninth to win a mistake-filled exhibition game over the Orioles 7-6 on Tuesday at Hammond Stadium.
Jose Miranda homers again as Twins slip past Orioles in exhibition play
The tying and winning runs scored on wild pitches in the bottom of the ninth inning.
March 7, 2023 at 10:12PM
With the Twins trailing 6-5 in the ninth, Class AAA righthander Ofreidy Gomez walked three Twins prospects and threw three wild pitches, the last two allowing Danny De Andrade to score the tying run, then Tanner Schobel to score the game-winner.
It ended an ugly game that included a combined 17 walks, three wild pitches, two hit batters and three errors.
Miranda has been the designated hitter as he recovers from a sore throwing shoulder that prevented him from playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic. Catcher Ryan Jeffers had a pair of doubles and Trevor Larnach returned to the lineup after missing a week with groin tightness, and went 1-for-2 with a single,
Will Holland had a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth when the Twins cut the lead to 6-5.
Twins starter Kenta Maeda threw 57 pitches in his third start of the spring, but only 27 of them were strikes, as he walked four batters and hit another. Still, Maeda only allowed one run in his 22⁄3-inning stint.
Josh Lester had three hits and drove in two runs for Baltimore.
Talk of competing for the best players or of a potential new owner wielding big bucks doesn’t change this: They are last in popularity among the four major men’s pro sports.
