Jonathan Schoop on his fond O's memories plus other notes

Former Oriole Jonathan Schoop has played on the field at Camden Yards often. But he came out of the visiting dugout to play at the Yard for the first time yesterday.

After 635 Orioles games between 2013 and 2018, Schoop was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers last July 31. Then, as a free agent, he signed a one-year deal with the Minnesota Twins in December worth $7.5 million plus incentives.

So some memories came rushing back before Saturday's doubleheader when Schoop talked to a group of reporters from Baltimore.

"A lot. I've got a lot. A lot of good moments. My first big league games were in Camden Yards. The playoffs in 2014 was a great moment. The crowd was so loud. Really good memories and good feelings. I miss it a little bit. Different dugout, different view.

"I spent a lot of time here, and the city and fans are good. They treated me really well and I love them. I know a lot of people in Baltimore and they just really treated me well here," Schoop said a few times during the interview.

He treated them well too, by playing some good baseball for the team that first signed him out of Curaçao at age 17. But last season, Schoop's bat never really got going. He hit .233/.266/.416 between the Orioles and Brewers.

Schoop said it was no excuse, but admits it was tough switching teams midseason last year. Starting with the Twins from the first day of spring this year will be helpful, he said.

"It's better. Now I had spring training to get to know the guys. With Milwaukee, it wasn't bad. But it was like walking into a new school, you don't know anybody. I didn't expect that, but it helped me in the end to be a better player because of the trade and what I went through last year."

Schoop had a good doubleheader, as did many of his teammates as Minnesota beat the Orioles twice Saturday by scores of 6-5 and 16-7. The Twins hit eight homers in the nightcap and 11 in the two games. Schoop went 4-for-8 in the twinbill and homered twice in Game 2, including one off Chris Davis in the ninth inning. Davis made the second pitching appearance of his career, entering in a 15-7 game and allowing the last run.

More notes on the Orioles:

* The O's rotation ERA is 6.04 after the doubleheader. Baltimore has just two quality starts, and none since April 2. The O's have gone 17 straight without a quality start. The bullpen ERA is 6.75 and the 'pen allowed five homers in the second game.

* The O's allowed 22 runs in the twinbill as the staff ERA jumped from 5.93 to 6.40, which ranks last in the American League.

* Three Twins had multi-homer games in the second game as Schoop, Nelson Cruz and Mitch Garver each homered twice. This year the O's staff has given up two homers or more in a game to 10 players. They are Toronto's Randal Grichuk, the Yankees' Ronald Torreyes, Aaron Judge, Clint Frazier and Gary Sánchez (who had a three-homer game), Oakland's Khris Davis (who did it twice) and Minnesota's Eddie Rosario, Schoop, Cruz and Garver.

* The eight homers allowed in Game 2 were the second-most allowed in a game in Orioles history. The club allowed 10 on Sept. 4, 1987 at Toronto. The Orioles hit six homers in the doubleheader while Minnesota bashed their 11.

* Renato Núñez hit three homers Saturday, with two coming in the nightcap. That was his first career multi-homer game. This is the second time he's hit longballs in consecutive games, the first time being Sept. 21 and 23 at Yankee Stadium. Núñez has hit safely in 14 of his last 16 games, hitting .344 (22-for-64) with four home runs and 13 RBIs during this stretch. He's batting .382 (13-for-34) in nine home games.

This was pretty special: After right-hander Branden Kline made his major league debut last night he said, "Even though it was just two innings and about 30 pitches, it was about 25 years of work that went into that. It was fun."

It was an emotional night for Kline and his family. He's a Frederick, Md. native who grew up going to games at Camden Yards. But beyond that, this is a pitcher who missed almost three full years of baseball due to Tommy John surgery and complications from that. Instead of being another young player losing a career to injury, Kline battled back to make his way to a big league mound. After his mom watched him throw a 1-2-3 seventh inning last night, she couldn't contain her emotions, and no one could blame her. Sometimes we forget what goes into a young player making it to the majors, and the wonderful family support they get along the way.

MASN's @saraperlman checked in with @BrandenKline16's mom after his 1-2-3 inning. pic.twitter.com/q4XkIh1JWx

-- Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) April 21, 2019