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.
Twins smashed by Orioles again; Baldelli says team needs to be better prepared after 11-3 loss
In the 11-3 loss to the Orioles, Twins starter Chris Paddack was hit even harder than Louie Varland was the night before. Both pitchers have identical ERAs of 8.36 through their first three starts.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
April 17, 2024 at 11:06AM
“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.
All that to try to keep the Orioles from adding to an 8-2 lead.
“I don’t want my teammates to say I gave up on that ball when I could have had a chance at it,” said Buxton, who also drove in a run with his first triple since Opening Day 2023. “So it’s always, finish the play and make sure you play all 27 outs.”
Still, it’s been a dispiriting couple of days, with the Orioles scoring early and often. After falling behind 4-1 through three innings Monday, the Twins trailed 7-0 on Tuesday and have now been outscored in the first three innings this season 35-13.
“We need to grab some leads,” Baldelli said. “We need to go out there prepared on the first pitch of the game, grab a lead, and that changes the game. It feels like we’re behind a lot, we’re behind fairly early, and it’s hard to play baseball like that. We have to play with pride, come out here and do our jobs better, because it’s not good enough right now.”
The Twins couldn’t match the Orioles’ firepower, not against second-year righthander Grayson Rodriguez, who in four starts this season has yet to allow more than two runs. Rodriguez needed only 23 pitches to retire the Twins’ entire lineup the first time through, with a pair of double plays snuffing any hope the Twins had of matching Baltimore’s quick start.
Twins shortstop Carlos Correa is arguably their best player and easily their most expensive one. He’s frequently injured and a payroll-strapped team is up for sale. It feels like the Twins can’t afford to keep Correa, but the same is true of losing him.
