Orioles end losing streak at 14 games with 7-4 win (updated)

The count to 1988 can stop.

No need to turn back the clock after the Orioles turned away the Twins.

Local product Bruce Zimmermann played the role tonight of rookie stopper, Cedric Mullins did a little bit of everything, including twice scoring on Trey Mancini singles, and the Orioles snapped a 14-game losing streak with a 7-4 victory before an announced crowd of 5,337 at Camden Yards.

Pedro Severino hit his second home run of the season and the Orioles won for the third time in 24 games. They also ended a 16-game losing streak to the Twins dating to March 2018.

The 14 consecutive losses tied the second-longest streak in club history behind the 0-21 start in '88. Matt Harvey and a line of relievers will close out the series Wednesday night and try to make it two in a row.

Everyone can exhale.

"That's the team everybody in this clubhouse knows we can be," Zimmermann said. "So to see us put it all together is just a great feeling, almost a sigh of relief knowing that's what we're capable of when we play together."

Zimmermann was responsible for the most recent Orioles win before tonight and earned another decision by holding the Twins to two runs with a career-high seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. Dillon Tate inherited two runners and a 6-2 lead in the sixth as Zimmermann left to a standing ovation, and induced fielder's choice grounders from Miguel Sanó and Willians Astudillo.

Tate loaded the bases with one out in the seventh and Alex Kirilloff singled off Tanner Scott, after Trevor Larnach struck out, to slice the lead to 7-3. Astrudillo greeted César Valdez with a solo homer in the eighth, but the Orioles weren't going to ruin their own party.

"It was amazing, first of all, just to get that win and break out of that slump we were in," Zimmermann said. "It feels good. I trust the guys behind me. The bullpen's been doing well, so to hand the ball off to those guys, I trust them. Our defense was great tonight. Cedric, probably one of the best catches I've ever seen in pro baseball. So I was confident in the guys I was passing the ball to."

Maikel Franco led off the bottom of the sixth with a 434-foot home run off reliever Juan Minaya. Cole Sulser earned his first save since Aug. 15, 2020 after bringing the tying run to the plate. A team that never lacked effort finally was rewarded for it.

Asked how he felt after the final out, manager Brandon Hyde said, "Probably a lot more relief than happiness at that point. Probably still a little irritated.

"Guys are celebrating in there right now. It's definitely nice to get a win and nice to get a lead early. Zimmerman threw the ball really well. But yeah, it was a hold-on-tight there for the last five or six outs."

Mullins tripled, singled, stole a base and ran a mile to make a sensational catch that kept the game tied in the third. Mancini produced RBIs. No. 43 and 44 in his first two at-bats against Twins starter Michael Pineda.

The Orioles (18-37) sent eight batters to the plate in the third and scored four runs. They appeared to be venting.

Mullins tripled to lead off the bottom of the first and scored on Mancini's line drive past Pineda's head. Another hit with a runner in scoring position. Same as DJ Stewart's double in the 10th inning of Monday's loss.

No automatic runners tonight, however.

Mancini's single came after his foul ball nailed Twins catcher Mitch Garver, who stayed down for several minutes and left the game with a groin contusion.

Consecutive singles by Mullins, Mancini, Anthony Santander and Freddy Galvis in the third gave the Orioles a 3-1 lead. They were 3-for-3 with RISP.

Santander came home on Stewart's bouncer to shortstop Andrelton Simmons, an out also producing a run. And Galvis scored on Ryan Mountcastle's double to left-center.

Pineda lasted only three innings, and Severino launched a Luke Farrell slider 431 feet to left field, exit velocity 106.4 mph per Statcast, for a 6-1 lead. Franco's exit velo was 109.9 mph. The party was getting loud.

Ken Garlick tied the game 1-1 with two outs in the third when he drove a changeup 410 feet into the left field seats, the first hit allowed by Zimmermann. Josh Donaldson singled and would have scored, except Mullins sprinted into right-center field and made a sliding catch on the warning track to rob Nelson Cruz.

Santander pounded a fist into his glove and checked on Mullins, who laid on the track for a few seconds after his momentum drove his head into the fence. Stewart, Zimmermann and Mountcastle formed a line near the dugout to congratulate Mullins as he came off the field.

The score remained tied. The Orioles caught a ball and a break, and there haven't been many of those.

"That was one of the best catches I've ever seen and just gave us a natural jolt of energy there," Mancini said.

"Honestly, I was just hoping it would stay in the park," said Zimmermann, who joined Steve Johnson as the only Maryland-born starting pitchers to win at Camden Yards. "It's really nice knowing you've got a guy like Ced in center field who's going to sacrifice himself and go for a ball like that, so I think that was the turning point in the game. It was like, 'All right, let's go now.' Everybody saw that and we were ready to roll. You could see the momentum shift in our favor after that catch."

Said Hyde: "That was the best catch I've seen here in three years."

The Orioles got another break in the eighth after Simmons singled off Valdez. He broke for second on an errant pickoff throw, slammed on the brakes, headed back to first and was tagged by Valdez.

Garlick came to the plate again in the fifth with runners on the corners and one out, and Zimmermann struck him out on a slider. Donaldson ran the count full, swung at a slider and Zimmermann was back in the dugout with his lead intact.

Doubles by Cruz and Kirilloff in the sixth reduced the lead to 6-2. In between was Zimmermann's seventh strikeout, also on a slider.

A four-pitch walk to Jorge Polanco introduced tension and Tate to the game. The Orioles teetered but remained upright. An opponent finally was taken down.

"We were so close the past four or five games," Zimmermann said. "It was like we were just missing a pitch here and a hit there. So going into this game, it was the same thing. We were in attack mode. The bats showed up and they performed for us, the defense made plays when they needed to and the pitchers got outs in big situations, so it kind of all synced up finally for us and it was just a really, really good team win."

"Last two weeks, obviously, were not great," Mancini said. "It was just a really strange streak. I know Hyder alluded to it earlier, but most of those games we were in, and whether things didn't bounce our way, we were all pressing. ... Tonight, we let it all go. It was June 1, kind of a natural reset for us. We all decided to forget about May and come out strong in June."

"It's a good time in there right now. The music's blasting louder than I think I've ever heard it in there, to tell the truth. It's fun. We're definitely enjoying it."

The Orioles optioned infielder Tyler Nevin to Triple-A Norfolk and will bring up a reliever for Wednesday.

Note: Reliever Hunter Harvey worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings tonight for Triple-A Norfolk in Durham. He allowed two hits, walked none, struck out two and threw a wild pitch. He threw 18 of 30 pitches for strikes, and the Orioles will discuss whether to activate him from the 60-day injured list.

Dean Kremer started and allowed two runs (one earned) and two hits in four innings, with two walks and seven strikeouts. He threw 62 pitches, 39 for strikes.