Gästebuch » g me that. It feels gre

Aaron Slegers and Jake Cave have been called up from Triple-A by the Minnesota Twins three times apiece this season Nick Boyle Jersey , and the All-Star break is still more than one week away.

Their contributions to this struggling team on Thursday night were sure worthy of a longer stay.

Slegers picked up his first major league win with six smooth innings, Cave reached base all four times he batted, and the Twins stopped their six-game losing streak by hanging on for a 5-2 victory over the lowly Baltimore Orioles.

”I know that I think, and I know Slegers thinks the same thing, that we can play big league baseball,” Cave said. ”We’re ready to go anytime the team needs us, and that’s just kind of how you’ve got to think of it.”

Logan Morrison homered and Cave drove in an eighth-inning insurance run with one of his two doubles for the Twins, who turned to Fernando Rodney in the ninth for his 18th save following two consecutive blown chances. Slegers (1-0) gave up only one run, on the first of two homers by Jonathan Schoop.

”It’s fun to have that in the stat column, to be a major league winner,” Slegers said. ”I can say that for the rest of my life.”

With eight right-handers in the Orioles lineup, except for Chris Davis, Slegers put his sinker to good use against the second-lowest scoring team in MLB. The Orioles managed just three hits against the 6-foot-10 Slegers, who was the latest to fill the recently revolving fifth spot in the rotation. Manager Paul Molitor stopped short of a commitment, but he indicated Slegers earned another turn after needing only 72 pitches to complete those six innings in his first major league start this season.

”Sometimes you make tough decisions to protect those young guys when they’ve had good outings and make sure they feel good when they come out of the game Nazair Jones Jersey ,” Molitor said.

The Orioles squandered another quality start by Andrew Cashner (2-9) and lost for the 10th time in 11 games. They have the worst record in the major leagues at 24-62, just the team the Twins needed to face to start a season-long 11-game homestand after a pivotal 1-8 road trip.

Trailing AL Central-leading Cleveland by 11 1/2 games, Minnesota has become a probable seller before the non-waiver trade deadline on July 31 with several accomplished players on expiring contracts. Baltimore has essentially been in that boat since April, with slugging shortstop Manny Machado widely considered the best asset on the market this summer.

CASHED OUT

Cashner, one of the offseason acquisitions by the Orioles that suggested their commitment to contending in the daunting AL East, has had more than three runs scored for him in only one of his 17 starts this year. He gave up three runs, two earned, and six hits.

”It’s not like we didn’t want to score for him,” Schoop said. ”I hope things start changing.”

Orioles starters have received the least amount of run support in the major leagues this season.

”I probably had the worst stuff I’ve had this season, but I thought I just grinded throughout the game,” Cashner said. ”When you’re not scoring runs, I feel like I keep my mind sharp on what I want to do out there and thinking pitch to pitch.”

WHOOPS

Cashner was charged with an error in the third, when he was covering first base on a chopper hit by Bobby Wilson to Davis and fumbled the relay toss to let Cave score from second. Wilson eventually scored on a single by Eddie Rosario.

WHIFFS

Rodney struck out Davis to start a perfect ninth, pushing the sputtering slugger into a first-place tie on the Orioles list for strikeouts with 1,305. He is tied with Cal Ripken Jr. Bobby Hebert Jersey , who played 3,001 games for Baltimore. Davis has appeared in 972 contests.

MAN, CAVE

Cave, who was recalled from Rochester last week, made a fully extended catch at the wall in right-center to take a potential extra-base hit away from Davis in the fourth inning. Cave doubled twice, driving in one run, to go with a single and an intentional walk.

”He can really flash it out there,” Slegers said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Orioles: RHP Darren O’Day (strained left hamstring) has been scheduled for his season-ending surgery on July 12. He’ll need six months to recover.

DOZIER’S DAY

Twins second baseman Brian Dozier, who has started 80 of 84 games and appeared in all but one this season, went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. He’s batting .218.

UP NEXT

Orioles: RHP Dylan Bundy (6-7, 3.75 ERA) will come off the DL to start Friday night. Bundy has been sidelined by a sprained left ankle.

Twins: RHP Lance Lynn (5-7, 5.49 ERA) will take the mound in the second game of the series, coming off his worst turn of the season. He gave up seven runs in Chicago to the Cubs in just 1 2/3 innings.

—

Rashad Greene has missed nearly twice as many games as he’s played in three seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars, leaving the receiver with plenty to prove going into the final year of his rookie contract.

It’s not an ideal position. It’s also not one Greene seems concerned about.

”I’m a deep thinker and I’m aware that life is going to hit you sometimes,” Greene said after minicamp Wednesday. ”It’s hitting me this way Martavis Bryant Jersey , and it’s my job. You’ve got to be able to bounce back and be strong and show that you can overcome adversity. It builds character and makes you a better person.”

He’s counting on it making him a better player, too.

Just being healthy is a good start.

Greene missed seven games as a rookie in 2015 because of a broken thumb. He missed eight more the following year because of an Achilles injury. He sat out all of last season with an ailing back.

Even with the injuries mounting, his confidence never wavered.

So it didn’t bother him when the Jaguars signed Donte Moncrief to a one-year, $9.6 million deal in free agency or when they selected DJ Chark in the second round of the NFL draft.

”I wasn’t thinking, `Oh, this is the end,’ or getting agitated with what was going on,” Greene said. ”You’ve got to make plays. At the end of the day, it’s a job, and if you don’t make plays, you’re not going to make the team. That’s imperative.

”You can’t have anxiety. You just got to relax, have fun and make plays.”

Greene would have been considered a long shot to make Jacksonville’s roster just a few weeks ago. But the former Florida State standout, a fifth-round draft pick in 2015, has made his share of plays during organized team activities.

He’s been so impressive that he looks like a strong option to be part of a rotation that includes Marqise Lee, Moncrief Will Hernandez Jersey , Keelan Cole and Chark.

”A lot of times when you are injured, you do not have that ability to showcase what you can do,” coach Doug Marrone said. ”I think he went through that last year and right now he is healthy, performing well and looking a lot like the player that I first saw when he came here, making plays and doing things.

”I think that if he keeps continuing the way he does and continues to play this way during training camp and the preseason, he will be heavily involved in the mix of making this team.”

Greene has 24 receptions for 125 yards and two touchdowns. He’s been more dynamic on special teams, returning 39 punts for 432 yards and a score. He averaged 16.7 yards a punt return as a rookie.

But injuries have been his more prominent story line.

”He is definitely versatile,” offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said. ”He is a smooth wide receiver that has a lot of good quick shake and control of his body. He is a guy that we are excited to see as the pads come on and as training camp goes. We just want to keep seeing him. He is doing everything he can to put himself in position to get out on the field.”

And maybe watch less and play more.

”All I can ask for is a chance,” Greene said. ”And the organization is giving me that. It feels great to be out there and competing. I’m having fun, and I can live with the results.”

—

Womens Dorian O'Daniel Jersey