Emmanuel Rivera went 4-for-4 with two homers and four RBIs, and the Baltimore Orioles cruised to a 9-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night in Minneapolis.
Ryan O’Hearn finished 2-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs for Baltimore (90-71). Adley Rutschman also drove in two runs for the Orioles, who achieved back-to-back 90-plus-win seasons for the first time since 1982-83.
Ryan Jeffers hit a two-run homer to account for the only scoring for Minnesota (82-79), which has lost six of its last seven. Carlos Santana and Brooks Lee joined Jeffers in finishing with two hits apiece.
Orioles left-hander Tucker Davidson (1-0) pitched 4 2/3 innings to win his season debut. Davidson followed right-hander Matt Bowman, who made his first career start and opened with 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Twins right-hander Zebby Matthews (1-4) surrendered six runs on seven hits in three innings. He walked three and struck out five.
The Orioles grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. O’Hearn drilled a two-run shot to left for his career-best 15th home run of the season and his second in as many days.
Baltimore added three more runs in the second to pull ahead 5-0. Rivera crushed a 442-foot, two-run blast to center. Three batters later, Rutschman hit an RBI single to left.
Rivera struck again in the third with an RBI double to make it 6-0.
Another inning brought another run for the Orioles in the fourth. Rutschman led off with a double, advanced to third on an O’Hearn single and scored on Ryan Mountcastle’s sacrifice fly.
Rivera continued his breakout performance with a 405-foot solo homer to left-center in the fifth — his second homer of the game and his fifth of the season.
The Orioles increased their lead to 9-0 in the seventh. Rutschman hit an RBI groundout to second base to drive in Rivera, who led off the frame with a four-pitch walk.
Jeffers hit a two-run homer in the ninth to put the Twins on the scoreboard.
–Field Level Media