Opener strategy works as Orioles win again 6-3 (updated)

Do two wins in a row constitute a streak?

The debate rages on, but does so without any interest from the Orioles. They just want to keep the music blaring inside the clubhouse.

Form the handshake line again. Feel a little better about themselves. Make the memories of the 14 losses in a row begin to fade like a tired starter.

The Orioles didn't have one of those tonight.

Matt Harvey provided more length than anticipated in his one-time role of opener, Rule 5 pick Tyler Wells followed with three scoreless innings, DJ Stewart homered to break a tie and the Orioles claimed their first series in a month with a 6-3 victory over the Twins before an announced crowd of 5,945 at Camden Yards.

Ryan Mountcastle broke open the game with a three-run shot in the seventh and the Orioles improved to 19-37. They hadn't won a series since May 3-5 in Seattle or taken one at home since Sept. 14-16, 2020 against the Braves.

"Mountcastle's homer was enormous," said manager Brandon Hyde. "That was really the hit that we haven't been getting is kind of the breakthrough homer to get into their bullpen and not have a couple of their high-leverage guys pitch against us every night."

Starting on three days' rest for the first time in his career, Harvey completed three innings on 43 pitches and allowed a run and two hits with three strikeouts.

Ryan Jeffers, called up this afternoon to replace injured catcher Mitch Garver, hit a 441-foot home run off Harvey with two outs in the second inning for a 1-0 lead.

The Orioles tied the game in the fourth on singles by Stewart and Mountcastle and Maikel Franco's bouncer to the mound that resulted in a 1-4 putout. Nick Gordon's attempt to turn the double play resulted in the ball landing in the A Lot.

Stevie Wilkerson singled for his second hit of the night, but runners stayed on the corners. The Orioles already had stranded six and were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. They were 1-for-11 with two on and two outs in the seventh when Mountcastle homered off Alex Colomé, an injury replacement for Caleb Thielbar earlier in the inning.

Stewart came to the plate in the fifth after Freddy Galvis walked with two outs and deposited a Randy Dobnak slider onto the flag court for a 3-1 lead. His sixth home run of the season.

"Not really seeing anything different," said Stewart, who's hit four home runs in his last 10 games. "Just kind of getting in a better spot ready to hit and not missing many pitches."

"I think with DJ it's being on time with the fastball," Hyde said, "and being able to really get to that thigh-high to belt-high heater that a lot of pitchers are throwing him."

Wells blanked the Twins on one hit in his career-high three innings, with no walks and two strikeouts, collecting his first career win. Twenty-three of his 35 pitches were strikes and his ERA dropped from 5.48 to 4.81. He hadn't been on the mound since May 24.

Short rest for one pitcher and an extended break for the other.

"With Harv there, kind of hoping he can get through two innings, and he really wanted to go back out there for the third inning and he talked me into it," Hyde said. "Was really impressed with his stuff. Just gave up that one solo homer. Tyler Wells went through the order one time, three really good innings. Really won us the ballgame there. Zeros in the middle part of the game."

Jorge Polanco doubled on the second pitch thrown by Harvey and Josh Donaldson walked. The opener threatened to close early. But Harvey retired the next three batters, striking out Alex Kirilloff on a 96 mph fastball and Nelson Cruz on an 87 mph slider, and inducing a grounder from Trevor Larnach.

Harvey threw 20 pitches and was allowed to return for the second inning. Fourteen more got him into the third with Zac Lowther warming, and he retired the side in order on only nine - two fly balls and a bouncer to the mound.

An adjustment to the rotation was necessary because of Saturday's doubleheader in Chicago.

"I felt good," said Harvey, who credited pitching coach Chris Holt for fixing mechanics that "got out of whack" and not becoming so fastball-heavy.

"I think it was first time I've ever done that, so obviously, you have to kind of make things up as they go, as far as bullpen and work in between. So we sat down and went over that and I told Hyder that I felt fine and was good to go. I really didn't know how many innings they wanted me to pitch, but I treated it like a normal start and went out there and attacked the best I could."

Hyde indicated that Lowther would pitch tonight, but the rookie didn't get into the game. Wells handled the middle portion with sticky fingers.

The Orioles were 4-for-7 last night with runners in scoring position and they loaded the bases tonight in the first inning on Cedric Mullins' single, Trey Mancini's walk and Dobnak's slider that nailed Anthony Santander on the lower right leg.

Galvis lined to Polanco, who stepped on second base for the double play, and Stewart flied out.

Mullins is 20-for-50 in the first inning and his 20 hits lead the majors.

Franco's leadoff double in the sixth also was wasted. He reached third base with one out and was stranded.

Santander singled off Thielbar with one out in the seventh and moved up on a passed ball. Galvis struck out, Thielbar left with a strained groin, Stewart walked against Colomé and Mountcastle drove a fastball 400 feet over the center field fence for his sixth homer of the season.

The Orioles' last three-run homer came from Mancini during John Means' no-hitter on May 5 in Seattle.

Shawn Armstrong retired the side in order in the seventh, but Gordon led off the eighth with a single and scored on Jeffers' first career triple, the ball hitting Mullins' glove as he sprinted into right-center.

Paul Fry let an inherited runner score on Polanco's sacrifice fly and issued back-to-back walks, but he recorded the last five outs and the Orioles won consecutive games for the first time since April 29-May 1.

"I've been in a few rough stretches, but I don't think it was ever that bad," Harvey said. "There were a lot of games that we should have won where we scored runs and me myself didn't do a very good job of keeping runs off the board when we got an early lead. We had a big discussion about flipping the page and we've started off much better than, obviously, we did ending May.

"It's a long season, no one was happy about going through that. It's never fun to even lose a couple in a row. It's a good start."

"We had a team meeting, kind of flush last month away," Stewart said. "It was bad. I mean, everyone knows it was bad, so kind of looking at this month as a new start. Right now we're 2-0, enjoy the off-day tomorrow and get back at it against Cleveland."

Down on the farm, Grayson Rodriguez made his Double-A Bowie debut and held Hartford to one run and four hits in five innings, with two walks and eight strikeouts.