MINNEAPOLIS — Cade Povich pitched shutout ball into the sixth, Ryan O’Hearn and Colton Cowser homered and the Baltimore Orioles eliminated the Minnesota Twins from postseason contention with a 7-2 victory Friday night.
The Orioles wrapped up the top AL wild-card spot, and will host either Detroit or Kansas City in the opening round next week.
“To get home field through the wild card is huge,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “We’re going to be pumped to play in front of our fans. There’s going to be a lot of energy and excitement in the ballpark.”
By the fifth inning, the Twins knew the Tigers had won and the Royals had lost, meaning a victory would keep their playoff hopes alive. But they could only muster two hits through the first eight innings and trailed 7-0.
At their high-water mark of the season on Aug. 17, the Twins were 70-53 and had a five-game cushion in the wild-card race. Since then, they are 12-25.
“It was clearly beyond a disappointing way to end a run and what was, and appeared to be, a promising season that we had going,” said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, whose team was the defending AL Central champions.