Brian Dozier's walk-off homer in 10th gives Twins the victory

It was a high fastball and Minnesota's Brian Dozier didn't miss it. Dozier's two-run blast in the last of the 10th gave Minnesota a 4-2 walk-off win over the Orioles tonight in the opener of a three-game series.

Working his second inning, Tommy Hunter allowed a one-out single to Danny Santana. He fell behind Dozier 2-0, who smoked a 96 mph fastball for his 17th homer to win the game. This was the Orioles' third walk-off loss of the year. The other two were April 18 at Boston and May 23 at Miami.

Early in the contest, the Twins hit the longball twice and the Orioles once as Minnesota grabbed the early lead.

Manny Machado, named to the All-Star Game today, hit a leadoff homer in the first inning for the 1-0 lead. He hit No. 18 off Phil Hughes, Machado's fourth leadoff homer of the season.

But Wei-Yin Chen hung a slider to Torii Hunter on an 0-2 count in the last of the first and he hammered it to left for his 13th homer and a 1-1 tie. With one out in the second, Aaron Hicks hit No. 3 for a 2-1 lead. Chen has allowed 17 homers this year; 14 have been solo shots.

Adam Jones, also named an All-Star today, blasted a long homer off the left-field foul pole in the sixth for a 2-2 tie.

But the Orioles missed out on several other chances in this game. After they stranded two runners in the third, Hicks made an incredible back-to-the-plate running catch to rob Chris Parmelee of a possible RBI double in the fourth. The Orioles left runners on second and third in the sixth, and Jimmy Paredes bounced into a double play with runners on first and third and one out in the seventh. Through that inning, they were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

The Orioles finished this game 0-for-8 with RISP, stranding a runner at second base with one out in the 10th. They are 4-for-42 (.095) with runners in scoring position over their last six games.

He got a no-decision tonight, but Chen pitched very well again, allowing two runs and four hits over seven innings, throwing 95 pitches. He allowed two earned runs or less for the sixth straight start, and he has an ERA of 2.23 in that stretch. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in 12 of his 16 starts for the year.

Minnesota improves to 44-39 on the season, 26-15 at home and to 10-4 versus American League East teams. The Orioles fall to 43-40 overall with their sixth loss in the last eight games. They are 17-24 on the road.

In the second game of this series on Tuesday night, Kevin Gausman (1-0, 3.09 ERA) faces right-hander Kyle Gibson (6-6, 3.04 ERA).