Twins sweep Orioles; Michael Pineda's damage control sets up Miguels Sano's big blast

Michael Pineda and Jorge Lopez had remarkably similar, yet distinctly divergent, outings on Wednesday. Both pitched six strong innings, with Pineda allowing three hits in his return from the injured list, and Lopez just four in his 10th start for the Orioles. Each pitcher made one major mistake, and it sailed out of the park.

The difference: Two Twins were on base when Miguel Sano connected against Lopez. Nobody was on base when Trey Mancini took Pineda deep.

Nobody ever is when Pineda is doing the Big Mike Dance.

The Twins finished off their first series sweep of the season Wednesday afternoon with a 3-2 victory at Target Field over hard-luck Lopez and the Orioles. It was Minnesota's sixth win in seven games, and its 15th in a row against the last-place Orioles.

"It feels a lot different than it did a week ago, for sure," said reliever Tyler Duffey, who pitched a scoreless seventh inning. "We're kind of getting that momentum going for the rest of this long season. I think this is definitely a sign of what's to come."

Too bad there are only three games left against the Orioles, next week in Baltimore. The visiting slump-enders fell to 17-32 with their ninth consecutive loss and 16th in their past 18 games.

But if Pineda keeps pitching this way — and dancing this way — the opponent might not matter.

At 6-7, Pineda doesn't exactly moonwalk like Michael Jackson — or does he?

"I'm waiting for somebody to document all of Mike's moves, because there's more than one Big Mike Dance," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "There's probably a few dozen moves that he pulls out on a regular basis out on the mound between pitches. They're all unique. I'm waiting for someone to get into that and put it to music."

Pineda, who hadn't pitched in a couple of weeks after having a cyst removed, was brilliant — after the first inning. The big righthander allowed three hits to the first four batters he faced but was spared more damage when Willians Astudillo threw out would-be base stealer Cedric Mullins.

That meant the bases were empty when Mancini drove a changeup into the bleachers in left field, a common occurrence for Pineda, who has allowed nine homers this season — every one of them a solo shot.

In fact, Pineda hasn't allowed anything but solo homers since August 2019, 12 in a row.

"That's a pretty big number. A number like that, I'm sure there's some coincidence there, but I do think there are pitchers that know when they can challenge hitters," Baldelli said. "When there's people on base, Mike certainly changes his approach. Hitters get more aggressive and he finds ways to really take advantage of what a hitter might be trying to do, some of that overaggressiveness. When there's no one on, to get through an outing, you've got to get some quick outs, and you've got to pitch in the zone, and you've got to get some contact. And Mike does both of those things really well."

Guess so. In his three seasons as a Twin, only once, back in June 2019, has he given up a home run with more than one runner on base.

"When I go to the mound, I don't want any homers," Pineda said. "But when they get a homer with nobody on base, I don't feel good, but it's OK. I try to refocus on the next hitter."

Yeah, it showed. Pineda didn't allow another hit over final five innings, completing his team-leading fourth quality start, striking out eight, and lowering his ERA to 2.62.

Still, Lopez matched him, and Pineda was trailing 1-0 in the sixth. After Max Kepler singled and Nelson Cruz walked, however, Sano changed things with one swing. The Baltimore righthander, now 1-6 on the season, threw up his hands in despair when Sano reached out and lasered a line drive over the center field fence, his seventh home run in the past two weeks.

"Sometimes taking the brain out of the way and just letting the body take over, that works," Duffey said. "We're hitting that good stride right now."