Twins Turn Back the Orioles With 8-4 Win

The Baltimore Orioles made one glaring oversight on their “Turn Back The Clock Day” checklist Wednesday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. The uniforms, the prices for bleacher seats and for boxes of popcorn, the attire of the stadium workers--virtually everything in sight was vintage 1966, the year of the franchise’s first World Series championship.

The Orioles players, however, still were circa 1991, and therein lay the problem. A day of twists and subplots again ended with the Orioles searching for answers in the aftermath of an excrutiating defeat, as closer Gregg Olson self-destructed during a five-run, ninth-inning outburst by the Minnesota Twins that provided an 8-4 triumph over the Orioles before 44,742.

Afterward, a distraught Olson reflected the mood of the glum clubhouse around him in assessing the day’s brush with history. “My 1966 Orioles uniform is now in the trash can, safely hidden away forever,” Olson said. “If we turn back the clock again, I won’t be here because I’m never wearing that hat and uniform again.”

Indeed, it was an ugly sight -- not the old-time garb, but what Olson did in it. The Baltimore stopper entered the ninth inning with a 4-3 lead, courtesy of a four-run Orioles comeback started by Leo Gomez’s two-run home run in the second inning and capped by Ernie Whitt’s RBI single in a two-run Baltimore seventh.

Olson, though, quickly gave the one-run advantage away during a ninth inning in which he surrendered four hits, threw three wild pitches -- one shy of the single-inning major league record held by Walter Johnson and Phil Niekro -- and committed a throwing error. “I don’t know if it’s a once-in-a-career thing, but it’s not a normal thing for him, that’s for sure,” Orioles Manager John Oates said.

Olson began the inning with an earned run average of 2.16, and he ended it with a 3.86 mark. The five runs he yielded tied his single-game high. He threw 29 pitches in the ninth inning alone, suffering both his third blown save (in 13 opportunities) this season and his first career loss at Memorial Stadium in nine decisions.

The Orioles fell for a second straight day and for the seventh time in eight games at home. Their record dropped to 23-40, including 10-22 here -- the worst home record at this point in the season in club history.

The Twins, whose 15-game winning streak was snapped here on Monday, now have a two-game string going. They’ve won 20 of their last 22, and today they won for the first time in 23 attempts when they trailed entering the ninth inning. Jack Morris picked up his sixth straight victory with his fourth complete game, and Chili Davis got Minnesota going with a three-run homer in the first inning off Jeff Robinson.

Robinson became the first Orioles starter in 17 days to complete seven innings. He got off to a shaky beginning, hitting Kirby Puckett in the hip with a fastball with two outs in the first, then permitting Kent Hrbek’s single. Davis followed by reaching down for a 1-2 curveball and slamming it into the right field bleachers for his 16th home run-and eighth in 19 games.

And for the seventh time in their last nine contests, the Orioles faced a deficit of at least three runs within the initial four innings.

But Robinson found a groove, retiring 19 of the next 22 batters he faced before giving way to Olson (0-3) with two outs in the eighth inning and Hrbek, who just had doubled, at second base. The Orioles had scratched and clawed for runs against Morris-who’s 9-5, with victories in nine of his past 11 decisions. Gomez trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the second with his third homer since his recall from Class AAA Rochester two weeks ago.

The Orioles took the lead in the seventh on Joe Orsulak’s one-out single, a walk to Gomez and run-scoring hits by David Segui and Whitt. Center fielder Mike Devereaux kept them in front by leaping above the fence in left-center to snare Shane Mack’s long drive leading off the eighth, and Olson came on soon thereafter and got Davis to fly out to end that inning.

But his troubles began almost immediately in the ninth. Six of the seven batters Olson faced in the ninth reached base, with the only out being recorded when Greg Gagne struck out by sending a two-strike bunt attempt foul. Two runs scored via Olson wild pitches, and a third came across when he retrieved one of those errant deliveries and threw the ball past catcher Bob Melvin as Mike Pagliarulo raced home.

Melvin said the blame was partially his for failing to smother the misdirected curveballs and both Robinson and Morris offered the excuse of a dug-up mound, but Olson wasn’t willing to share the fault today. “It’s just one of those things that’s going to happen to everyone,” he said. “Throwing those tough curveballs in the dirt, that’s a chance I’ve taken before and a chance I’ll take again. It just didn’t work out today. ... I haven’t fielded that many wild pitches in a long time.”

Said Twins Manager Tom Kelly, whose team has beaten Olson twice in a two-week span: “That guy doesn’t mess up very often. It’s just a quirk of nature that we were in the other dugout twice in a row when he did. Some days you just have to count your blessings.”