Yovani Gallardo wins his debut and Chris Davis homers as O's top Twins

He didn't get as deep into the game as he would certainly like, but right-hander Yovani Gallardo went far enough to pitch his way to a win in his Orioles debut tonight.

Gallardo gave up just two hits and one run over five innings in the chill of Camden Yards as the O's beat Minnesota 4-2 to start the year 2-0 in front of 12,622 cold fans.

The Orioles went 0-7 against the Twins in 2015.

Gallardo, who ranks seventh among major league pitchers in getting ground balls over the last two seasons, got just three tonight. But he did enough to hold the Twins down with three walks and four strikeouts during an 89-pitch outing.

The O's took a 1-0 lead with two outs and none on in the second versus right-hander and Kyle Gibson, the losing pitcher. J.J. Hardy walked and then scored on a bloop double to right by Jonathan Schoop. Third base coach Bobby Dickerson took the chance with the aggressive send and Hardy was safe on a close play.

Byron Buxton led off the Twins third with a double and scored on Joe Mauer's sac fly for the 1-1 tie.

But the O's scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth for the 4-1 lead. Chris Davis hit a solo blast to center in the third. The O's first homer of the year came on a 1-2 slider and made it 2-1. Joey Rickard came through again with a sac fly an inning later. His liner to left scored Hardy, who led off with a double and advanced to third on a groundout. It was Rickard's first major league RBI. Mark Trumbo walked with one down in the fifth and came all the way around on Matt Wieters' double to left-center for his second RBI in two games.

Tonight, Rickard went 2-for-3 with that RBI and he is 4-for-7 (.571) in his first two games.

The Orioles drew five walks (one intentional) in the first five innings tonight and that raised their total to 10 walks drawn in the season's first 14 innings. They drew six walks for the game.

Trevor Ploufee homered off reliever Mychal Givens in the sixth to bring Minnesota within 4-2. Givens has an ERA of 13.50 over his first two appearances. But the Orioles bullpen kept Minnesota off the board after the homer. That included a clutch strikeout of Miguel Sano by Brad Brach. It came with two on and two out in the seventh and he threw a 94 mph fastball by Sano to end that threat. Darren O'Day pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and Zach Britton closed it out for his first 2016 save.

The O's 'pen fanned eight over the last three innings.

Tomorow night, the Orioles go for their first three-game home sweep of the Twins since April 2012. Right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez pitches for the Orioles against Twins right-hander Phil Hughes.