Wrapping up 6-2 loss

The Orioles followed a dramatic 11th-inning walk-off home run on opening day by almost being no-hit tonight by the Twins.

Kyle Gibson handled the first six innings, walking five batters and throwing 102 pitches. Ryan Pressly retired the first five batters he faced, but he walked Manny Machado with two outs in the eighth and Jonathan Schoop grounded a single up the middle on the next pitch, an 89 mph slider that got through the infield and drew an ovation for what remained of an announced crowd of 17,763.

The Twins had to settle for a combined three-hitter and a 6-2 victory over the Orioles. They were unable to make history by recording the first March no-hitter ever. They didn't even get the shutout, with Tim Beckham belting a two-run homer off left-hander Gabriel Moya with one out in the ninth.

Danny Valencia pinch-hit for Colby Rasmus and doubled down the left field line to bring up Beckham. Valencia continues to mash against the lefties.

The Orioles were last no-hit by the Mariners' Hisashi Iwakuma on Aug. 12, 2015 at Safeco Field. Tonight would have marked the eighth time they were no-hit since the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1954.

The others: The Los Angeles Angels' Bo Belinsky on May 5, 1962, the California Angels' Nolan Ryan on June 1, 1975, the Brewers' Juan Nieves on April 15, 1987, the White Sox's Wilson Alvarez on Aug. 11, 1991, the Red Sox's Hideo Nomo on April 4, 2001, and the Red Sox's Clay Buchholz on Sept. 1, 2007.

Nomo's no-no is the only one at Camden Yards. It came in the second game of the season, which the Twins tried to duplicate tonight.

The Twins were aiming for their first multi-pitcher no-hitter in club history.

Trey Mancini nearly broke it up with two outs in the sixth on a line drive to left fielder Eddie Rosario, who made a sliding catch with his bare hand after the ball popped out of his glove.

Rasmus led off the seventh by lining to center fielder Byron Buxton, who made a more routine catch. But it was a loud way of greeting Pressly.

"I think the guy (Gibson) pitched real well, OK?" Showalter said. "We hit, what, two or three balls hard? Hit a ball right to the center fielder. Trey obviously squared one up. I'd probably be searching to find another. It was legit.

"We had real good hitters who just, early in the season you're pressing a little bit. You want to get off to a good start. When you got a guy who can command an offside like that, really two of them, like he can, it kind of plays into their hand."

Gibson walked a batter in each of the first four innings, retired the side in order in the fifth and survived a two-out walk to Adam Jones in the sixth. He had 16 swings-and-misses, but few with his fastball. Thirteen came on his changeup and curveball.

The Orioles just couldn't figure him out. Changing speeds and looks had them baffled.

"He made a change in his approach a little bit, some things that he did when he went down last year and came back, and it really helped him in the second half and carried over in the spring," Showalter said. "Changeup, sharp breaking ball, some ride on the fastball. He had all three pitches there and really he kind of changed the tilt a little bit on his breaking ball now and then. He had everything working. He had all the pitches in the hitter's mind, so you had to honor all of them. You could see early on, especially as cool as it is, especially being able to pitch on the inner half a lot.

"The changeup's been the pitch that kind of put him at a little different level. I wouldn't say a surprise for those guys that hit off him. We talked about that coming in after last season, we thought he was a guy, after what he did last year and some of the changes they made and he made, that he might have a big year. There's a reason why he's pitching two in the rotation."

Rule 5 picks Nestor Cortes Jr. and Pedro Araujo made their major league debuts tonight. Cortes survived a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the sixth by striking out Buxton and getting a 1-2-3 double play from Juan Castro. But the Twins padded their lead in the seventh on Brian Dozier's leadoff double and Joe Mauer's RBI single.

Araujo retired the side in order in the eighth on a comebacker, ground ball and strikeout. Miguel Castro was just as dominant in the ninth with a comebacker, ground ball and strikeout.

Asked about the Rule 5 guys, Showalter said, "I was kidding Nestor that the best changeup he threw was to Caleb (Joseph) to start the double play. At the end of the day, we gave up one run between the two of them over three innings, so we'll take the finished product and we'll learn from it.

"You do take a step back when you get guys announced back-to-back making their major league debut and you kind of think. Anthony (Santander) played tonight, too, so we got to see all three of them."

Moya walked Santander after Beckham's home run, but he struck out Chance Sisco and Chris Davis flied to center field to even the Orioles' record at 1-1.

Andrew Cashner allowed three home runs in the first four innings after averaging 0.8 per nine innings last season.

"A little elevated," Showalter said. "It's only going to get better. Everything gets kind of magnified when you're not getting hits. What did we walk, seven times tonight? That was good. It's a positive. But their guy was pitching real well and obviously it gets magnified with the margin of error that their guy was making. But Cash felt good. He was going to throw at the most 85 tonight, so got some things accomplished there. He'll be more productive.

"As the season goes on, guys will reach for their track records, especially a guy like Cash. I kind of dwell on how good their guy pitched, but I know that's the focus tonight. But if you look at his track record, there'll be more statistically. He could have continued and pitched another inning, but we had three guys we'd like to get out there tonight. I don't dwell on it a whole lot. He feels good, he had a good spring. A little late start, but I think he's only going to get better and better."

Said Cashner: "My sinker was kind of flat. I think I needed to do a better job of getting on top of it. It's not a great start, but there's a lot to build off it. I've just got to pitch better for us to be where we need to be."