Alex Cobb allows four homers in series opener (quotes added)

MINNEAPOLIS - New venue but a similar result. The Minnesota Twins mashed more home runs off Orioles pitching tonight to win 6-1 in the series opener at Target Field in front of 23,658.

O's right-hander Alex Cobb had a third straight poor outing and allowed a career-high four homers in four innings. He gave up three in a row in the first inning and left with an 0-2 record and ERA of 10.95.

Cobb got the first two outs in the home first. But then Nelson Cruz, Eddie Rosario and C.J. Cron went back-to-back-to-back. It was the first time the Twins hit three in a row since June 26, 2016 at Yankee Stadium. Leadoff hitter Max Kepler added another on a 438-foot bomb to right field in the fourth for a 5-0 lead. At that point, the Twins had hit four longballs a combined distance of 1,690 feet.

Over four innings, Cobb allowed six hits and five runs (four earned) with one walk and two strikeouts. He has allowed nine homers in 12 1/3 over his first three starts. The last two weekends versus the Twins, he has given up 16 hits and 14 runs (13 earned) with seven homers in 6 2/3 innings.

The Twins went ahead 4-0 in the third when center fielder Joey Rickard could not make a catch in deep center for an error as a run scored. It was that kind of night.

Right-hander Gabriel Ynoa replaced Cobb and began the last of the fifth by yielding a homer to Cruz, his second of the game. It was No. 4 for Cruz, his 29th career multi-homer game and his first since last Saturday in Baltimore. But Ynoa ate some innings tonight, allowing the one run over 3 1/3 innings on 53 pitches.

The Orioles allowed five homers and have given up five or more five times this season. They began the night leading the majors with 59 home runs allowed, 13 more than any other club. They had also not allowed a homer in three of their previous four games. The Twins have hit 16 homers in four games off Baltimore pitching.

Lefty Martín Pérez took a shutout to the sixth when three singles got the Orioles on the board. The last was by Dwight Smith Jr. and it was his eighth RBI in five games and 19th for the season. He extended his hitting streak to nine games. Trey Mancini had three more hits for the Orioles and is batting .349. Pérez gave up one run over six innings to improve to 3-0 with an ERA of 4.44.

The Orioles fall to 10-17 for the year and to 7-7 on the road. They are 0-4 versus the Twins and have lost 10 in a row to Minnesota. The Twins improved to 14-9 and 6-4 at Target Field.

The clubs are scheduled to play Saturday at 2:10 Eastern time with rain and temperatures in the 40s in the morning forecast. But the outlook is better into the afternoon, so we'll see if they can get it in when Dan Straily (1-1, 8.59 ERA) is scheduled to face righty José Berríos (3-1, 2.97 ERA).

Manager Brandon Hyde on Cobb's night: "I just think that he's not executing the way he wants to, and I think that's frustrating for him right now. You see the frustration out there. I think they hit four homers off him and all four were on off-speed pitches. It just doesn't seem like he's, ever since that game against New York, he's not as crisp. He didn't want to come out of the game. Cobber has pitched in big games and done it for a while. We expect him to bounce back and have a good rest of the year."

Cobb on his night: "Yeah, I'm just leaving so many balls up in the zone right now, and they're putting a lot of barrels to the ball and they're going out of the ballpark. So I gotta figure out a way to get the ball down and more to my spots than I'm doing right now, so it'll come with time."

Cobb on inconsistent command: "Yeah, I've always been able to look at a spot on the plate and throw it to that spot, and now the ball's just not being driven to those spots very well. They're coming back over the plate, thigh high, waist high, and I've always been able to drive that ball down to the knees and onto the corners, and I'm not doing that right now."

Mancini on his big night: "Just not giving into my approach. You know, Pérez got me on an inside cutter first at-bat. Had a really good pitch repertoire there and he threw a great game tonight. But just kind of not giving in. He broke my bat, but I decided not to try to cheat to anything in and stick with my approach. I'm still honestly a little bitter about the last at-bat. I hate ending the game on a strikeout looking. Maybe the first time I've done that ever. Kind of a sour taste in my mouth about that. But overall, just tried to stay within myself."