Twins look to maintain faint playoff hopes alive vs. Orioles

The Minnesota Twins need a lot of help to stay alive in their bid for the postseason.

Minnesota (82-77) will try to do its part when it opens a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles (88-71) on Friday night in Minneapolis.

The Twins need to sweep the Orioles and have either the Kansas City Royals or Detroit Tigers lose all three of their remaining games in order to have a shot at a wild-card berth.

The Royals will face the Atlanta Braves this weekend, and the Tigers will meet the Chicago White Sox.

“We are not eliminated right now, at this point,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said after an 8-6 loss in 13 innings to the Miami Marlins on Thursday. “And I don’t have the mindset that we are out of this. I don’t care who’s available out of the bullpen (Friday). I don’t care how we played (Thursday).

“My intention is to win out … and see what happens.”

Baltimore clinched a playoff berth Tuesday and will take part in a best-of-three wild-card series beginning next week. The Orioles hoped to win the American League East but watched the New York Yankees celebrate first-hand on Thursday following a 10-1 decision.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said he was focused on the upcoming postseason and was not caught up in the fact that his team finished as runner-up to the Yankees.

“They played better than us in the second half, and we’re excited to be in the playoffs,” Hyde said. “We still have some work to do, but give them credit for playing well.”

Orioles right-hander Corbin Burnes predicted an October matchup between the rivals.

“We’re going to face them again,” Burnes said. “The only way I think we’re going to move on is (we) have to go through them. We played great against these guys in the regular season, so there’s no reason why we can’t do it in the postseason.”

But first, the Orioles — who won the season series against the Yankees 8-5 — will wrap up their regular season with three games in Minnesota.

Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez (15-9, 4.11 ERA) is set to make his 32nd start of the season on Friday. He already has set a career high in victories, and he needs to fan 10 batters to reach 200 strikeouts for the second season in a row.

The 28-year-old hopes to bounce back from an ugly start in his last outing against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday. He gave up seven runs on nine hits in four innings in an 8-1 loss. He also allowed two homers in a start for the first time since June 18.

This will be Lopez’s fourth career start against the Orioles. He is 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA in his first three meetings and has given up two earned runs on seven hits in 17 innings.

Baltimore will counter with left-hander Cade Povich (2-9, 5.59 ERA), who will make the 16th start of his rookie campaign. He has 67 strikeouts in 74 innings this season.

Povich will aim for his first win since Sept. 3 against the Chicago White Sox. In his most recent outing, he received a no-decision Saturday after allowing two runs on two hits in five innings in his team’s 6-4 loss to Detroit.

This will be Povich’s first game against Minnesota, the organization that drafted him in the third round out of Nebraska in 2021. The Twins traded him and several other minor-league prospects to the Orioles one year later for veteran reliever Jorge Lopez.

–Field Level Media