O's offense held down as Twins sweep series (quotes added)

MINNEAPOLIS - Orioles pitchers were not battered by the longball today. But they lost again to the Minnesota Twins anyway, this time with little offense.

Right-hander Kyle Gibson limited the Birds to a Chris Davis solo homer over seven frames as Minnesota beat the Orioles 4-1 at Target Field to complete the three-game sweep.

Minnesota has won 12 in a row over the Orioles and has gone 6-0 against them this year, scoring 45 runs on 23 homers. They hit 12 homers during the sweep this weekend.

The Twins did homer today on right-hander Dylan Bundy's first pitch. Max Kepler blasted an 89 mph fastball 396 feet to right for the 1-0 lead. Kepler got a pitch that was middle-middle and hit No. 7. In 17 career games against the Orioles, he has hit nine homers with 22 RBIs and had an OPS of 1.428 beginning today.

Bundy ran into trouble in the third when the Twins scored three to make it a 4-0 game. Byron Buxton led off that inning with a first-pitch homer off a 91 mph fastball. He hit No. 1 with an exit velocity of 110 for a 2-0 lead.

Kepler followed with a double and two outs later, Bundy walked two batters to load the bases. Then Marwin Gonzalez hit a soft fly ball to center field. Center fielder Joey Rickard charged in and left fielder Dwight Smith Jr. charged over, but neither could get to the ball and two runs scored for the 4-0 lead. That ball looked catchable and per Statcast had an expected batting average of .020.

Bundy threw 94 pitches, going five innings. He gave up five hits and four runs with three walks and eight strikeouts to tie his season high. He recorded a season-high 19 swings and misses, including 10 on 49 four-seam fastballs that averaged 91.8 mph. Bundy falls to 0-4 with an ERA of 6.67.

As for the Baltimore offense, it couldn't get much going against Gibson. Blanked on two hits through 6 2/3 innings, Davis homered to right-center on a 1-1 curveball to avoid a shutout. It was No. 3 for Davis and traveled 392 feet. Gibson allowed just three hits over seven innings and 105 pitches. He is 2-0 with an ERA of 4.88, with both wins against the Orioles.

The Orioles scored just four runs on 20 hits in this series. They are 2-16 when scoring four runs or less.

While the Twins are now 16-9, the Orioles are 10-19 for the season and are a season-worst nine games under the .500 mark. The O's are 7-9 on the road and 0-3 on this trip that now heads for Chicago for a series against the White Sox. The Orioles begin a three-game set there Monday night when John Means (3-2, 1.74 ERA) faces Manny Bañuelos (1-0, 2.51 ERA).

Roster move: Following today's game, the Orioles optioned right-hander Luis Ortiz to Triple-A Norfolk. Called up before this game, he warmed up but didn't pitch today. This likely opens a roster spot for 28-year-old right-hander Shawn Armstrong. The Orioles claimed him off waivers from Seattle during today's game.

Manager Brandon Hyde on the two-run single that fell in during the Twins third. Was that ball catchable?: "It was just one of those that was up in the air for a while and our outfielders play deep. You know, sometimes you take hits away and sometimes balls fall in front. That was just one where it was in a perfect spot where there were two outfielders playing deep and Richie (Martin at short) couldn't get back there enough. Just one of those in a bad spot. We haven't had a ton of balls fall in front of us, to be honest with you. But we've taken a lot of balls away behind us. Taken a lot of extra-base hits away. So that was just one of those where, pick your poison a little bit. It just kind of fell in a perfect spot."

Hyde on Bundy: "I thought Dylan threw the ball good. Again, he kind of got stronger as the game went on. Thought he kept his velo through five. He just gave up a couple of solo homers and then a fly ball that fell in. In a bad spot. But he gave us a chance.

"I think that, I don't know, I feel like he pitches good when he gets a little bit irritated and a little bit upset. And I feel like all the sudden, you start seeing some 93s. I like that about him in that I feel like his stuff ticks in when he gets into tougher situations. So I'm happy the way he battled for five innings."

Bundy on his day, the ball that fell in and the two homers: "I felt like I had pretty good stuff the whole game. Kind of lost a little bit of control there in the third. But overall, every single pitch felt good. The changeup, found it later in the game. Sometimes it doesn't matter if you execute your pitch, they can still get a hit. Just gotta stay in the game a little longer, I think. They don't miss pitches over the plate that they're looking for. Center-cut fastballs, they don't miss those very often."

Davis on whether he is now more confident at bat?: "I don't know. I feel like we lost 4-1 today. Personally, I feel good. I feel like I'm seeing the ball well. I feel like I'm putting good at-bats together, but it's not a one-man show. We've gotta score more runs than the other team and do a better job as an offense of trying to get ourselves back in the game, no matter what's going on on the other side of the ball."

Davis, any concern about team losing three straight?: "We've gotta bounce back. We don't have any other choice. Unless we want the season to go on and have a repeat of last year, we've gotta do something to figure it out, and do so quickly. Like I said, it's not one man's problem. Every guy in here's accountable and every guy knows it. They've gotta do something to help us get better."