Twins mash eight homers, Kline and Davis pitch, and O's drop nightcap

The Orioles' chances to gain a doubleheader split today, win their second home game of the year or have a game without allowing homers went south quickly tonight.

Right-hander Alex Cobb returned from the injured list, but allowed a pair of homers in the first inning as Minnesota went on to crush the Orioles 16-7 at Oriole Park.

Coupled with their 6-5 win in the opener, Minnesota completed a twinbill sweep to improve to 11-7. The Orioles fall to 8-14 overall and to 1-8 at home.

Chris Davis made his second career pitching appearance in the top of the ninth. He gave up one run - on a Jonathan Schoop homer. Davis last pitched on May 6, 2012 at Boston and this was the 11th time in team history - and second this year - that a position player has pitched.

Cobb allowed nine runs to tie his career high on 10 hits over 2 2/3 innings. He allowed three home runs to tie a career high and threw 61 pitches. He is 0-1 with an ERA of 11.88 through two starts.

Mike Wright replaced him in Minnesota's six-run third inning and gave up a three-run homer to Mitch Garver, the first batter he faced. That made the Twins lead 10-0.

After hitting three homers in the opener, the Twins mashed eight more tonight. Former Oriole Nelson Cruz went 4-for-5 with two homers, his 28th career multi-homer game. Former Oriole Schoop went 3-for-5 with a three-run shot off Wright in the fourth and the longball in the ninth for his second career multi-homer game. Schoop went 4-for-8 with two doubles and two home runs in the two games.

O's pitchers have now allowed 57 homers through 22 games. They set a major league record tonight, allowing the most home runs before May 1. The previous mark was 50 by the 1996 Detroit Tigers.

The O's gave up eight homers in the nightcap, they have allowed 39 in nine home games and are 1-8 at Camden Yards. O's pitchers have allowed 21 home runs over their past four home games.

We did have a special feel-good moment tonight in the top of the seventh when right-hander Branden Kline made his major league debut. The Frederick, Md., native and Thomas Johnson High School grad missed most of three seasons from 2015 through 2017.

He got the crowd excited when he pitched a 1-2-3 seventh on 13 pitches and touched 98 mph with his fastball. But the Twins spoiled the moment when Cruz and Mitch Garver each took him deep for solo shots an inning later to make it a 15-4 game.

Down 13-0 in the fourth, the Orioles pulled within 11 on a Renato Núñez two-run homer. It was his second today and fourth of the year. Hanser Alberto hit a two-run homer in the sixth for his first major league home run. The O's added three runs in the eighth. Joey Rickard led off with an infield single and went to third on a Jonathan Villar double. Pedro Severino plated a run with a groundout and a second run scored on a wild pitch.

Then Núñez blasted a solo homer to left. He hit this one 113 mph off the bat and it was his second of the game, third of the day and fifth of the year. It produced his first career multi-homer game.

The O's need to win Sunday afternoon to avoid a sweep when right-hander Dylan Bundy (0-2, 7.79 ERA) pitches against right-hander Kyle Gibson (0-0, 7.36 ERA).