O's get good news on Mancini after blowout loss at Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS - On a day when the Orioles lost big again to the Minnesota Twins - and gave up five more homers - at least there was good news after the game. Trey Mancini's injury does not appear serious and he should return to the lineup soon.

In the first inning today against José Berríos, Mancini swung at a pitch that hit the index finger on his right hand. He didn't want to give the Twins time to review the play because he felt that would result in a swing and a strikeout. Instead, two pitches later and while feeling pain, he looped a single into center. Then Hanser Alberto pinch-ran for him. He had a nine-game hitting streak, but his day was over.

"Definitely lucked out there," Mancini said. "I hit it straight off my finger. It didn't hit bat at all. That's why I tried to play it off a little bit, because I knew if I gave them time to review it, it was a strikeout right there. I was just trying to stay up there and one-arm something, knowing I'd have to come out of the game after that. Luckily, nothing is broken or anything like that. That's good news."

But it was initially quite concerning.

"I couldn't feel my finger whatsoever, so I wasn't really sure what happened," he said. "He released the ball and the spin looked like the breaking ball I saw earlier, and obviously it wasn't. I just kept my swing going and took it off my finger. Not ideally what you're trying to do up there."

But hopefully Mancini, who is batting .355/.405/.618 and leading the American League in hits, will avoid the injured list. It seems doubtful that he can play tomorrow, though.

"Very relieving, because I wasn't so sure," he said. "Once the numbness wore off, it was pretty painful. But definitely feeling better now. We'll see in the morning, having to grip a bat, throw a ball and things like that. But I don't see it as anything to keep me out too long at all."

Added manager Brandon Hyde: "I was thinking the worst, to be honest with you, when I went out there and he was having a tough time moving it. The look on his face - Trey's obviously an extremely tough guy. We were all worried it was something bad. Fortunately, the X-rays came back negative and it's just a contusion."

Some in-game pain was again inflicted on the Birds by Minnesota batters, who hammered five more home runs in a 9-2 win. Right-hander Dan Straily allowed just an unearned run over four innings, but his pitch count escalated to 89.

C.J. Cron's two-run shot off Paul Fry in the sixth put Minnesota ahead 3-2, and an inning later when Max Kepler hit the first of his two homers - this one coming off of Tanner Scott - it was 5-2. The Twins crushed three homers off Jimmy Yacabonis in the eighth. They were all hit 430 feet or more as Marwin Gonzalez, Jason Castro and Kepler connected.

The Twins, who have won 11 in a row over the Orioles, have hit 10 homers in this series and 21 in going 5-0 this season against Baltimore. Their most homers in a season against O's pitchers is 22, records set in 1962 and 1964. The Twins have scored 41 runs in the season series.

Hyde said once again that O's pitchers are not commanding their pitches well enough.

"Yeah, the first one, we've got two bases open with two switch-hitters on-deck and you're staying in the game to pitch around somebody, not let somebody beat you, and that's just a learning process. But we've got to just ... It's the big leagues. We've got to be better than that and understand who can beat me and who can't at appropriate times, and who's on deck, all those sorts of things that go along with winning pitching. We're still learning a lot of things."

Hyde was asked if it will get discouraging for the team seeing so many opponent homers flying out of the park.

"Well, I think it's naturally discouraging when you have a lead and it kind of falls apart, but I feel like we've done a really good job of coming back the next day and turning the page on it. Look to see us do that tomorrow," he said.

The Orioles got RBI singles by Rio Ruiz in the fourth and Alberto in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead. But the Twins bashed the homer to move ahead in the sixth, and they kept hitting them to pull away.

The Orioles (10-18) need a win on Sunday afternoon to avoid a three-game sweep. They are now 7-8 on the road and have lost eight of 11 and 13 of their last 18 games overall.