MINNEAPOLIS — Scott Baker put together his best start of the season after Francisco Liriano tossed one of his worst, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-1 on Saturday night to salvage a split of their doubleheader.
Nick Markakis drove in three of the five two-out runs off Liriano in the opener, when Baltimore cruised to a 7-3 victory. The doubleheader made up for a rain out Friday night.
Joe Mauer returned in the nightcap for the first time since missing eight games with a deeply bruised left heel. The reigning AL MVP drew a standing ovation as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning, but struck out with the bases loaded and the Twins leading 4-1.
Light-hitting Drew Butera followed with a two-run single, giving Baker (4-2) more than enough support. The Twins starter scattered three hits — including a solo homer to Luke Scott in the fifth — while winning for the first time since April 16.
Orioles starter Kevin Millwood (0-4) gave up seven hits over seven innings in Game 2, and dropped to 0-8 against Minnesota in 13 career starts.
Jeremy Guthrie (1-4) fared much better in the opener, allowing five hits and three runs while pitching into the seventh inning for Baltimore. He also got more run support from his offense, thanks to a flurry of well-placed singles that knocked Liriano from the game.
"We finally got some hits to fall in," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "The breaks went with us. We've hit some balls on the button and have had nothing to show for it. Today they didn't exactly look pretty, but they gave us good results."
Justin Morneau hit his first Target Field homer after going deep six times on the road, a two-run shot that gave the Twins a first-inning lead, but that was about all they could muster.
Markakis hit a two-run single with the bases loaded in the third on a roller up the middle that Liriano and shortstop Brendan Harris just missed. Three more runs scored on balls that found grass before gloves in the fourth, and the Orioles took a 5-2 lead.
"Sometimes those hits go your way. Sometimes they don't. It's a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason," said Minnesota's Michael Cuddyer, who took Guthrie deep in the fourth and has five of his team's nine home runs in 14 home games.
Many of the Orioles' 10 hits were loops and bloops to the outfield, and a few of them barely eluded the infield dirt. Nolan Reimold's one-out single that started the rally in the third bounced high off third base and past Nick Punto's reach.
"You make a good pitch, and they still get a base hit," said Liriano, who had thrown 17 scoreless innings to start his experience at Minnesota's new ballpark. "There's nothing I can do about it."
Notes
The last doubleheader the Twins played at home was in 2007, the result of a rescheduling following the fatal freeway bridge collapse near downtown. Baker pitched the night game that time, too, and took a perfect game into the ninth inning. … The Orioles hadn't played a doubleheader since the end of the 2008 season, a September twinbill against Tampa Bay.