BALTIMORE—Albert Suárez gave the Orioles a sensational start, and Cedric Mullins gave them a fantastic finish, hitting a 2-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Orioles to a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Twins before 15,860 at Camden Yards on Wednesday.
In his first major league game in nearly seven years, the 34-year-old Suárez threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings and was in line for his first win since June 23rd, 2016. Suárez was at Triple-A Norfolk and didn’t find out he was starting until Tuesday night. That’s when the Orioles placed Tyler Wells on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation. Suárez, who was added to the roster on Wednesday morning, gave up three hits and struck out three.
“He just throws a ton of strikes,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He’s aggressive with his fastball. He’s got confidence in his other pitches. He just knows how to pitch.”
Suárez left with a 1-0 lead and put the Orioles (12-6) in position for their fourth straight win and a sweep of the Twins. It was left to Mullins to finish what Suárez started as the team prepares for a six-game road trip to Kansas City and Anaheim, California.
Ryan Mountcastle singled with one out in the ninth. Mullins hit a 1-2 pitch onto the right-field flag court against Griffin Jax (1-2) for his fifth home run.
“I wasn’t trying to do too much,” Mullins said. “Mounty got us going with a single, and I tried to follow it up with another single. I was able to get a pitch that I could handle, and I put it over.”
Craig Kimbrel (3-0) pitched a spotless ninth inning.
Shortstop Gunnar Henderson led off the first with his sixth home run, and his third in as many games.
Suárez, who relied heavily on his four-seam fastball, did allow two doubles, to Jose Miranda with one out in the second and Alex Kiriloff with two outs in the fourth. Willi Castro singled with two outs in the fifth, and he didn’t score thanks to rightfielder Ryan O’Hearn, who leaped and caught Kyle Farmer’s drive to end the inning.
Danny Coulombe walked Manuel Margot with one out in the seventh, and Jacob Webb gave up RBI singles to Austin Martin and Farmer to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.
Twins starter Pablo López was also outstanding. He allowed just Henderson’s homer and Jordan Westburg’s infield single in six innings.
Anthony Santander hit his fourth home run in the seventh inning to tie the score, 2-2, and set up the ninth-inning heroics.