Twins combined no-hit bid comes up short in 6-2 win over the O's

In the chill of Camden Yards on Saturday night the question became: Would the Orioles be no-hit here again in the second game of the season? It first happened on April 4, 2001 when Boston's Hideo Nomo did it.

They were not, although the Minnesota Twins came within four outs of a combined no-hitter in beating the Orioles 6-2 in front of 17,763. Jonathan Schoop's two-out clean single to center in the eighth ended the no-hit bid. They ruined the Twins' shutout when Tim Beckham hit a two-run homer in the ninth off lefty Gabriel Moya.

It would have been the eighth time in O's history they were no-hit and first since Hisashi Iwakuma of the Seattle Mariners did it Aug. 12, 2015 in Seattle. Nomo's no-no is the only time the O's have been no-hit at Camden Yards.

Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson got the start and went the first six innings. While he walked five, he kept the Orioles hitless and none of the batters he walked even reached second base. He threw 102 pitches, more than half were fastballs in the low 90s. He got 16 swings-and-misses.

Gibson went 12-10 with a 5.07 ERA last year, although his ERA was 3.57 his final 12 starts. He began tonight with a career ERA of 5.89 versus the Orioles in seven starts. A sliding catch by left fielder Eddie Rosario to end the Orioles sixth kept the no-no intact. He bobbled Trey Mancini's liner but then caught it barehanded to record the putout.

Right-hander Ryan Pressly replaced Gibson to start the home seventh. He retired the first five he faced before he walked Manny Machado, and then Schoop singled. Pressly put up a zero when he struck out Adam Jones, but the no-hit bid was over.

As for the O's on the mound tonight, a pitcher who doesn't often allow many home runs gave up three in the first four innings. It was not the Orioles debut that right-hander Andrew Casher had in mind.

Last season, pitching for Texas, Cashner allowed zero or one homer in 26 of his 28 starts. Just twice did he even yield two in one game. He ranked second in the American League among starters in homers per nine innings at 0.89.

But tonight, Miguel Sanó homered to left off a 2-2 fastball in the first to put the Twins up 1-0. No. 9 hitter Jason Castro led off the third with a 416-foot blast to center to make it 2-0. Brian Dozier then singled, advanced to third on Joe Mauer's double and scored on Sanó's groundout for a 3-0- lead. Max Kepler's solo homer to right center traveled 404 feet an inning later and the Twins led 4-0.

In the fifth, two walks and Caleb Joseph's throwing error along with a Sanó double play grounder extended the lead to 5-0.

Cashner went five innings and gave up six hits and five runs (four earned) with two walks and five strikeouts. He threw 79 pitches. The three homers were the most he has given up since he yielded four on July 8, 2016 pitching for San Diego against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Nestor Cortes Jr., one of three Rule 5 picks on this team, made his major league debut in the sixth, and Minnesota quickly loaded the bases. He got a strikeout and double play to impressively put up a zero there. He allowed a run in the seventh, however, that made it 6-0. Righty Pedro Araujo, another Rule 5 pick, pitched a 1-2-3 top of the eighth in his major league debut.

The Orioles and Twins play the series finale Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. before the Orioles head to Houston to face the defending World Series champions.