Rivera crushes two HRs as Orioles roll to 90th win of season, 9-2 over Twins

Baltimore scored in each of the first five innings and the bullpen didn’t allow a run until the 9th and the O’s cruised to a W in Minneapolis.

The pressure was off the O’s Saturday, and the bats thrived without the weight of expectations as Baltimore bludgeoned the Twins 9-2 to secure their 90th win.

A day after clinching the top Wild Card spot in the AL, Baltimore came into Saturday’s game with nothing left to play for in the regular season. Brandon Hyde brought Jackson Holliday, Emmanuel Rivera and Austin Slater in off the bench, and the bench mob helped fuel an impressive offensive showing for the O’s.

Holliday helped spark a rally that put the Orioles ahead before the Twins could hit. Leading off and playing SS for the first time this season, Holliday started the game with a walk. After Adley Rutschman and Anthony Santander went down on a lineout and groundout, Ryan O’Hearn delivered some two-out magic. The Orioles first baseman slapped an elevated fastball to left field, and it snuck over the fence for O’Hearn’s second homer of the series.

After teeing off on Twins’ start Zebby Matthews in the 1st, the O’s continued to light up the rookie in the second. Ramón Urías continued his hot second half with a one-out single into CF, bringing Emmanuel Rivera to the plate. Looking to secure his place on the postseason roster, Rivera started his evening with a bang, launching a hanging slider into the left-center bullpen to give Baltimore a 4-0 lead.

The Rivera homer opened the offensive floodgates for the Orioles as the suddenly hot Baltimore bats terrorized the Twin Cities. After the Rivera bomb, Slater and Holliday walked to give the O’s another runner in scoring position. After a two-hit night on Friday, Adley Rutschman collected his first hit of Saturday on a line drive to left that scored Slater and increased the lead to 5-0.

The Orioles 3B would strike again in the 3rd to continue the offensive onslaught. After Ryan Mountcastle and Heston Kjerstad started the inning with back-to-back strikeouts, Urías reached on after lining a hanging curveball into left for a single. Rivera then got his second hanging slider of the night from Matthews and barely missed hitting an identical homer to left-center. Instead, Rivera’s rocket to the gap slammed off the outfield wall for a double, allowing Urías to score from first.

Baltimore would turn to some small ball in the 4th as they scored for the fourth inning in a row. Rutschman led off the inning with his second hit of the night, slashing a double into the left field gap. That double marked the first time since June that Rutschman put up a multi-game on back-to-back nights. O’Hearn then picked up his second hit of the night, blooping a single into left on a popup that escaped Kyle Farmer at third—allowing Rutschman to advance. Ryan Mountcastle then completed the manufacturing of the Orioles’ 7th run, launching a sac fly to center to score Rutschman.

River would put his stamp on the game once again in the top of the 5th. With one out, the star of Saturday night took a 3-2, middle-middle fastball and blasted into the outstretched hat of Cionel Perez in the bullpen. Rivera would pick up a single in the 9th to give himself 11 total bases, setting both a career-high and single-game high for an Oriole this season.

The left side of the Orioles infield found themselves at the heart of the ninth and final run of the night. Rivera led off the 7th with a walk and Holliday singled him into scoring position on a rocket past second baseman Eduoard Julien. Twins reliever Diego Castillo then uncorked a wild pitch to allow both to move up, and Rutschman then grounded out to second to score Rivera. While the O’s 3B was the first star of Saturday, Holliday shone in his own right—going 3-4 with two singles, a double and two walks.

With their postseason position already solidified, Brandon Hyde turned to his bullpen on Saturday and five relievers backed their manager with an excellent outing. Matt Bowman started the game as an opener, and the righty reliever delivered 1.1 shutout innings while picking up 2 Ks. After being roughed up his last two outings in the Bronx, Bowman was back to his best against Minnesota—delivering his 13th scoreless outing since joining the Orioles.

Bowman would give way to the recently called-up Tucker Davidson in the 2nd, and the former World Series champion dominated in his first major league outing since last September. The first two batters Davidson faced each reached on infield singles, but he would come back to set down the next six batters he faced. The lefty wouldn’t give up another hit until a lead-off single in the bottom of the 6th and put together a final line of 4.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB and 1 K. The last two outs of Davidson’s evening came in style, as Anthony Santander snagged a sinking fly ball with a sliding catch before firing the ball into second for a double play.

Yennier Cano and Cionel Pérez would work scoreless 7th and 8th innings in what should be their final outings before the postseason begins on Tuesday. Keegan Akin got the 9th and did give up a two-run home run to Ryan Jeffers for Minnesota’s only runs of the evening.

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The win means the Orioles have back-to-back 90+ win seasons for the first time since winning 94 and 98 games in 1982 and 1983. The Tigers and Royals both lost Saturday, meaning Detroit heads into the last day of the regular season with a one-game lead for the second Wild Card. If Detroit wins or Kansas City loses on Sunday, the Tigers will be coming to Baltimore on Tuesday for their third series with the O’s in four weeks. If Kansas City beats the Braves AND Detroit loses to the White Sox, the Orioles would host a rematch of the 2014 ALCS with the Royals.