Stewart's swing, hockey sweaters and Shaw's struggles

The mood swings for the Orioles last night produced the highest exit velocities of the season.

The frustration of a 45-minute rain delay as DJ Stewart came to the plate with a runner on base and two outs in the eighth inning, his team down by a run. All of the failed opportunities leading up to it, the Orioles just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

The idea that another quality start from John Means would go to waste.

A second-pitch home run for Stewart, who admired the flight of the ball and flipped his bat in celebration. A six-game losing streak on the verge of disintegrating like so many early leads in recent games.

And the complete meltdown by the bullpen, starting with Tanner Scott's walk to leadoff hitter Andrelton Simmons, who, as manager Brandon Hyde said later, doesn't draw many of them.

The wild pitch, the single to put Twins on the corners, the inherited runners scoring left, right and center. A six-run, 12-batter disaster and an 8-3 loss that might have hurt more than the others.

"I've been in that same situation," Stewart said on his Zoom call. "You're doing your best to execute for the team, it's just not going our way right now, but every guy in that clubhouse, I know they can get the job done, so just got to continue to grind through it.

"That's baseball. There are ups and downs. We're down right now. Best thing about it is we get to come back here (tonight) and play again."

The eighth inning couldn't have been much stranger, with Stewart waiting out the delay and acting as though it never happened - unless his concentration improves while sitting through a storm.

He barely had time to wipe the smile off his face and the lead was gone.

"It was a long delay for our guys," he said. "Just trying to create a little bit of excitement. It just didn't go our way. They're out there battling. The ball didn't fall our way. I mean, that's the game of baseball."

* The Orioles arrived in Minnesota Sunday wearing hockey jerseys - or "sweaters" for you traditionalists.

Anything to lighten the mood.

"It was something I talked to the veteran guys about," said Hyde, who repped Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin. "Any ideas that they have from a road trip standpoint of doing things that are fun, stuff that guys enjoy, I'm all for. This is an idea that they had a handful of days ago and guys seemed to like it. It's always nicer to get on a plane after a win, but anything you can do with your club to keep the atmosphere good and ... when you're traveling and times are tough a little bit, you want to stay positive. And guys seemed to like the hockey jerseys."

Trey Mancini donned a New York Islanders jersey. Means paid tribute to Team USA, Pedro Severino the Los Angeles Kings, Dean Kremer the San Jose Sharks and Paul Fry the Detroit Red Wings.

Hyde owns a couple of Chicago Blackhawks jerseys and a Wayne Gretzky model, but "I stayed local," he said.

* Triple-A Norfolk's Chris Shaw could use a do-over to the 2021 season.

Shaw is hitless in 37 plate appearances, drawing nine walks and striking out 18 times. He's started in left field in nine games.

The Orioles claimed Shaw off waivers from the Giants on Nov. 25 and designated pitcher Thomas Eshelman for assignment to create room on the 40-man roster. They outrighted him in February after signing shortstop Freddy Galvis.

Shaw was drafted in the first round in 2015 out of Boston College, appeared in 38 games with the Giants in 2018-19 and went 11-for-72 (.153) with two doubles and a home run. He slashed .279/.340/.520 with 109 home runs in five minor league season before joining the Tides.