O's shut out Twins to take series

Minneapolis, MN – Chris Davis hit a two-run homer and finished with three RBI, while Wei-Yin Chen tossed five strong innings before leaving with a right oblique strain as Baltimore blanked the Minnesota Twins, 6-0, in the rubber match of a three-game set at Target Field.

Adam Jones and Steve Pearce each hit solo home runs for the Orioles, who have won six of their last eight. Chris Snyder provided an RBI single in the victory.

"We're just playing baseball...getting hits when we need to get the hits," Snyder said. "Just a good win today. Going into every series, you try to win the series."

Chen (3-3) allowed five hits and struck out three but appeared in pain following Eduardo Escobar's fifth-inning groundout. The Orioles, who already have an injury-shortened pitching staff, later announced the oblique injury for the 27-year-old Chen.

Joe Mauer extended his hitting streak to 11 games with two pokes, while starter Scott Diamond (3-3) took the loss after yielding all six runs on nine hits over 5 2/3 innings.

The Twins had won four of five coming into the series, but dropped two of three in the series.

"We've been swinging good and banging the ball around," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of his team's recent success. "You're going to have one of those days every once in a while. That's a very good baseball team over there."

Diamond, who fell to 0-7 in his last nine starts at Target Field, struggled early on as Baltimore struck for three runs through the first three frames.

Davis' two-out, two-run shot -- his 11th home run of the season -- in the first gave the Orioles a 2-0 lead. In the second, Snyder plated J.J. Hardy with an RBI single and Jones added a solo homer in the third to give the O's a 4-0 advantage.

Davis added to the visitors' lead in the fifth with an RBI groundout to first with the bases loaded, scoring Nick Markakis to make it 5-0.

Pearce made it 6-0 with a leadoff homer to left-center in the top of the sixth.

Game Notes

Baltimore recalled pitcher Mike Belfiore from Triple-A Norfolk on Sunday after Saturday's starter, Steve Johnson, was optioned to the Tides later that same night ... Chen has given up no more than three runs in seven of his eight starts this season ... The Twins had scored at least five runs in six straight games.