BALTIMORE – Even in defeat, even in absorbing one of the most lopsided losses of his career, Chris Paddack knew what he needed to do. So as he came off the field in the fifth inning Tuesday night, his team trailing by seven runs, the righthander walked over to manager Rocco Baldelli.
“I told Rocco, ‘Hey, I know it’s ugly, but give me 10 more pitches’ ” in order to keep the bullpen as rested as possible, Paddack said. “I take pride in that. The things I can control is not giving up. I’m here to compete my butt off.”
Trouble is, so are the Baltimore Orioles, and they certainly look like the defending, and future, American League East champions. Baltimore’s ferocious young lineup cracked three home runs, racked up 15 hits and handed the Twins their third consecutive loss, 11-3 at Camden Yards.
“That’s a tough one to swallow,” said Paddack, who had pitched encouragingly well in his first two starts. “But it’s a young, hungry lineup. … The cutter, two cutters got hit a long way.”
And not just the cutter. The Orioles, who became the first AL team to reach 100 runs for the season, pummeled 12 balls more than 100 mph around the diamond, 10 of them against Paddack, whose ERA nearly doubled and now stands at 8.36 — identical to Louie Varland’s, who was hit almost as hard the night before.
Gunnar Henderson launched a first-pitch slider into the picnic area in right field in the second inning, the reigning AL rookie of the year’s fifth home run of the season. Jordan Westburg’s own two-run blast the following inning traveled 404 feet and over the left-field wall, his fourth homer. And Ryan O’Hearn connected in the eighth inning against Jay Jackson, a 395-foot fly ball that Byron Buxton leaped for again but couldn’t reach when a front-row fan snagged it instead.
Speaking of Buxton, Paddack said the center fielder’s unwillingness to quit matched his own. Buxton ran down O’Hearn’s 410-foot fly ball in the sixth inning, making a spectacular leaping catch while colliding with the center-field wall.