Pearce leaves game with abdominal injury (Davis hits slam, O's win 9-1)

Infielder Jimmy Paredes is making his Orioles debut tonight, but not as manager Buck Showalter planned it. Paredes has replaced Steve Pearce, who left the game with a strained right abdominal muscle. Paredes was on deck to bat for Pearce as Nick Markakis struck out to end the bottom of the third. He went to third base, with Chris Davis shifting across the diamond. Can only speculate what happened to Pearce, whose 11-game hitting streak came to an end. Pearce backed against the railing in foul territory and reached into the crowd to catch Trevor Plouffe's pop up in the second inning. He had to twist his body to avoid falling on fans who were trying to snatch a souvenir. Pearce fielded Danny Santana's ground ball and made an off-balance throw to pitcher Miguel Gonzalez to record the out and end the third. In his only at-bat, Pearce grounded out in the first inning. Paredes singled in the fourth in his first at-bat as an Oriole. Pearce is batting .289 with 21 doubles, 16 home runs and 37 RBIs in 84 games. He's been a regular in the lineup with Manny Machado out for the remainder of the season and Davis taking over at third. During his hitting streak, Pearce was 15-for-45 (.333) with five doubles, five home runs, six RBIs and 11 runs scored. Update: Twins rookie Trevor May has struck out the side twice in four innings, but the Orioles scored five runs off him in the fourth after he hit two batters. Davis punctuated the rally with his second grand slam of the season and the fourth of his career. He crushed a 92 mph fastball on a 3-1 count. The Orioles have five slams this season. Nelson Cruz hit the last one on June 25. May hit Adam Jones on the left thigh and Cruz on the left elbow after Paredes singled to load the bases with no outs. J.J. Hardy walked with one out to force in a run and Davis sent the crowd into a frenzy. Update II: Nick Markakis doubled in the fifth and scored on Jones' single to increase the lead to 6-0. Paredes had another good at-bat, advancing Markakis to third with a grounder to the right side. Jones has 79 RBIs this season. He seems to be moving fine despite being drilled on the leg. Delmon Young hit a two-run homer with two outs in the fifth, and the call stood after an umpires review. Seemed pretty clear that a fan reached over and caught the ball after it deflected off left fielder Jordan Schafer's glove. Anyway, the Orioles now lead 8-0 and May is finally done. Update III: Miguel Gonzalez lost his shutout bid with one out in the seventh on Trevor Plouffe's solo home run. Gonzalez allowed one run and four hits in seven innings, with one walk and six strikeouts. He threw 103 pitches, 69 strikes. Gonzalez has allowed two earned runs or fewer in seven of his last eight starts. Jonathan Schoop had an RBI double in the sixth. Update IV: Game over. The Orioles defeat the Twins 9-1 for their fourth victory in the last five games. The Orioles improve to 77-56 overall, 38-27 at home and 14-16 against the American League Central. The Orioles have won 11 of their last 13 series openers. The bullpen has posted 18 straight scoreless innings, the last two tonight by left-hander Brian Matusz.