The first batter that Ubaldo Jiménez faced tonight worked the count full and singled up the middle. The next batter was ahead 3-1 and flied out. The third batter also worked the count full and walked.

Jiménez got back-to-back strikeouts to escape the jam, but the tone again had been set. It wasn't going to be his night. And it wasn't going to be pretty.

One run scored in the third inning and one more in the fourth on Max Kepler's leadoff home run. The threads began to show, and his start completely unraveled in the fifth when he failed to retire a batter and was charged with four more runs to tie the game.

The Twins wouldn't let up, scoring six runs in the sixth and cruising to a 14-7 victory at Camden Yards that again raised questions about Jiménez's future in Baltimore.

The Orioles are 25-18 and they trail the Yankees by 1 1/2 games in the American League East. The streak of games decided by two runs or fewer ends at 12.

Jiménez's ERA rose to 7.17 in 42 2/3 innings. In his eight starts, his innings count reads as follows: 4 1/3, 4 1/3, 7 2/3, 3 1/3, 3 1/3, 7 2/3, five and four. The glimpses of dominance can't mask the problem here.

Robbie Grossman singled to lead off the fifth. Jiménez threw four more pitches and allowed Joe Mauer's bunt single, Miguel Sanó's liner up the middle that loaded the bases and Kepler's two-run double.

Catcher Welington Castillo walked to the mound, an apparent stall tactic while Tyler Wilson kept warming. As plate umpire Jim Reynolds took a few steps toward them to break up the conference, manager Buck Showalter emerged from the dugout to make a pitching change and some fans applauded him.

Jiménez could make his next start. He could be skipped in the rotation with Thursday's off-day. He could be sent to the bullpen, perhaps swapping places with Alec Asher. The Orioles could decide to cut ties with him in the final season of his four-year, $50 million contract.

Plenty of options - except for optioning him to the minors.

In his last start, Jiménez ran the count full to three of the first four Tigers batters and threw 28 pitches in the first inning without surrendering a run. He made it through the fifth.

Jiménez threw 26 pitches tonight in the opening inning, but that was the only semblance of improvement.

The Twins tallied six runs in the sixth, all of them charged to Wilson, two of them unearned. Jonathan Schoop had an error. Stefan Crichton let an inherited runner score when he dropped the ball and was called for a balk.

Ten batters came to the plate. Jason Castro struck out looking and applause filled the ballpark.

I didn't know the forecast called for sarcasm.

Sanó hit a two-out two-run homer off Crichton in the ninth, and the Twins outscored the Orioles 14-2 after the second inning. The Orioles squeezed 59 pitches out of Crichton. Safe to say he won't be available for a few days.

Caleb Joseph came off the bench and delivered a run-scoring single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Because he's become an RBI machine.

The Orioles made a winner of Kyle Gibson, a trick that even David Blaine couldn't execute.

Gibson was 0-4 with an 8.20 ERA when he arrived at his hotel, and he allowed five runs in the second inning, the last three on Adam Jones' 125th career home run at Camden Yards that broke a tie with Rafael Palmeiro for first place on the all-time list. Trey Mancini had an RBI double and J.J. Hardy delivered a run-scoring single.

Doubles by Hardy and Manny Machado in the fourth gave the Orioles a 6-2 lead. Jiménez didn't record another out and made his latest painful walk to the dugout, head bowed and his uncertain future hanging over it.

Showalter on Jiménez's problems: "Obviously, the results aren't very good. A lot of it is some balls in the center of the plate, not many counts in his favor. Hasn't really had consistent out pitches for him."

On Wilson: "He kind of got us out of there 6-6 and after that he and Stef both couldn't stem the tide. It's a good club. They've been playing real well this year. We knew we were going to be challenged today. A lot of switch-hitters and they're pretty even from either side. It's a tough lineup."

On whether it's gotten to point where a change must be made: "Getting to a point? I'm not going to ... Certainly I understand the production hasn't been there like it needs to be and if there are adjustments to be made, we'll make them, but I'm certainly not going to talk about things like that in this setting. But I understand this is a question we ask every time we have some consistent struggles at a certain part of our game."

On giving back runs: "What was frustrating is we had a man on third with one out and didn't get him in. We knew there was a chance against that club regardless of who's pitching, you're going to need every tack-on run that you can. Trying to get to the later part of the game where you can get some people who have pitching from an experience standpoint in the game. But the shutdown innings have been a problem for us, period, after scoring, not just Ubaldo.

On whether moves will be made tomorrow: "There's that potential. I haven't spoken to anybody yet, but there's that potential with two guys being down tomorrow."

On whether it takes a toll on a team when big leads are lost: "Oh sure. I step back and look at the way Adam played center field tonight and the way Chris played first base. It's challenging. We're trying to score more runs because we've got to potentially cover for some things and you've got to try to make every play because you know how important it is, especially against a team like them.

"It's certainly something that you concern yourself with, but they're tough mentally. I don't think guys dwell on it, but as long as they feel like there's a silver lining there, something that's coming that's going to get better and that's not the case every night. And that hasn't been the case every night. But it's certainly been some situations that we didn't like the way it happened. But just because you scored runs, it hard up here. It's the American League. There's offense at every turn."

On whether it would be good for Jiménez to go to the bullpen: "There's always that possibility. Is it good for the bullpen? That's another question. Those moves were made with Zach (Britton) here, OK? So there's some different scenarios, but we're going to try to put our best foot forward."