After a game where O's pitching allowed three hits through eight innings and retired 21 batters in a row, two reached to start the last of the ninth and the Orioles lost 3-2 at Minnesota on Friday night.

Closer Jorge López, who had recorded nine straight saves and had not allowed a homer all year, gave up a two-run, walk-off homer to Byron Buxton in the Minnesota win. Luis Arraez led off the ninth with a nine-pitch single to center to set the stage for Buxton to hit his 21st homer of the year to end the game.

The Twins (44-36), leading the AL Central by 1 1/2 games over Cleveland and by 5 1/2 over the Chicago White Sox, improved to 12-9 against AL East teams and 24-17 at home. The Twins have the fourth-most home wins in the AL and tied for fifth-most in baseball. They had lost their past two games via walk-off defeats.

Right-hander Joe Ryan, last night's Twins starter, allowed just two hits and one run over seven innings on 89 pitches. He threw his four-seamer 61 percent of the time at an average velocity of 92 mph, topping at 94.

Minnesota starting pitchers have combined to go 6-2, 2.05 ERA (79.0 IP, 18 ER) with 15 walks, 55 strikeouts, a .201 opponent batting average and eight quality starts in their last 14 games.

MINNEAPOLIS – Trey Mancini returns to the Orioles lineup today at Target Field after pinch-hitting last night. He didn’t start due to a sore right hand that required a cortisone injection.

Mancini’s eight-game hitting streak ended last night with his ground ball.

Mancini is playing right field and Anthony Santander is in left. Austin Hays is the designated hitter.

Robinson Chirinos is catching in a day game following a night game. Adley Rutschman is on the bench.

Tyler Nevin starts at third base.

MINNEAPOLIS – The Orioles had just tied tonight’s game in the top of the third inning on Cedric Mullins’ two-out double. Austin Hays lined out, Spenser Watkins began to warm and manager Brandon Hyde reached his boiling point.

Hyde was ejected from the game, his second this season and the eighth of his career. This one was hardly noticeable.

The dispute began after a strike call to Mullins on the first pitch of the at-bat, which the Orioles thought was high and prompted some barking from the bench.

Plate umpire Ramon De Jesus kept turning back to the dugout, and Hyde came onto the field after the inning. Hyde carried his argument from De Jesus to crew chief Alfonso Márquez, appearing to gesture that the Twins had a similar beef earlier in the game that went ignored.  

Hyde tried to go back to De Jesus, and Márquez pushed him with both hands toward the dugout. Hyde walked down the steps and raised a hand to calm catcher Robinson Chirinos.

The Orioles have reached the final stop on a three-city road trip. They went 3-1 in Chicago against the White Sox and 1-2 in Seattle versus the Mariners. And tonight they begin a three-game weekend series in Minnesota. They are 4-3 on the trip and need one win to guarantee a .500 trip and two to post a wining road trip.

The Orioles (35-42) have the best record, for what it is worth, of any fifth-place team in the majors. They begin play tonight six games behind third-place Tampa Bay and 8 ½ games behind both Boston and Toronto, which are tied for second place in the American League East.

The Orioles completed June at 14-12 and begin a new month tonight in the series opener. In posting their first winning month since August of 2017 (17-12), they had a plus 17 run differential in June. In 26 games over the month, they averaged 4.77 runs per game, seventh in the AL and 12th in MLB. Baltimore's 3.86 ERA (97 ER/226.0 IP) in June ranked sixth in the AL and 12th in MLB. Its .538 winning percentage ranked sixth in the AL, behind the New York Yankees (.786, 22-6), Boston Red Sox (.769, 20-6), Cleveland Guardians (.643, 18-10), Houston Astros (.640, 16-9) and Seattle Mariners (.552, 16-13). O's relievers owned a 2.89 ERA (31 ER/96.2 IP) in June, the second-lowest in MLB last month, behind the New York Yankees with a 2.00 ERA (21 ER/94.1 IP) in 28 games. O's starters have posted a 2.18 ERA (16 ER/66.0 IP) in 13 games since June 16, the best team starting pitcher ERA in MLB over that span.

Even in losing the last two games in Seattle, the Orioles have won eight of 13 and 11 of 18 games. They are 13-10 their past 23 games and 21-18 since May 19. They went 14-16 in May, giving them a .500 record at 28-28 since May 1.

O’s pitchers have allowed only 20 runs the last eight games, 24 in 10 and 33 runs over the past 13 games. The club has allowed two runs or less in nine of those 13 games with a team ERA of 2.43 in that span.

MINNEAPOLIS – Trey Mancini is out of the Orioles’ lineup tonight for the second time in three games, as they visit the Twins on the final stop of their three-city road trip.

Mancini, who has an eight-game hitting streak, didn’t play Tuesday and the Orioles were off yesterday. He went 1-for-5 with a double on Wednesday.

Anthony Santander is the designated hitter tonight, with Ryan McKenna in left field and Austin Hays in right. Adley Rutschman is batting fifth.

Jonathan Araúz gets another start at third base.

Spenser Watkins has a 5.14 ERA and 1.629 WHIP in nine starts, but he allowed only an unearned run in five innings in Chicago. He faced the Twins on May 5 at Camden Yards and surrendered three runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. Byron Buxton homered.