The Twins look to keep their slim playoff hopes alive against the Orioles

The Minnesota Twins need a lot of help to stay alive in the postseason.

Minnesota (82-77) will look to do its part when it opens a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles (88-71) on Friday night in Minneapolis.

The Twins must defeat the Orioles and let either the Kansas City Royals or Detroit Tigers lose all three remaining games to have a chance at a wild card spot.

The Royals face the Atlanta Braves and the Tigers face the Chicago White Sox this weekend.

“We’re not out at this point,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said after a 13-inning, 8-6 loss to the Miami Marlins on Thursday. “And I don’t have the mindset that we’re out of this. I don’t care who’s available from the bullpen (Friday). I don’t care how we played (Thursday).

“My intention is to win… and see what happens.”

Baltimore clinched a playoff spot on Tuesday and will compete in a best-of-three wild-card series starting next week. The Orioles were hoping to win the American League East, but watched firsthand on Thursday as the New York Yankees celebrated after a 10-1 decision.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said he is focused on the upcoming postseason and is not affected by the fact that his team finished second to the Yankees.

“They played better than us in the second half and we’re excited to be in the playoffs,” Hyde said. “We still have a lot of work to do, but commend them for a job well done.”

Orioles right-hander Corbin Burnes predicted a matchup between the rivals in October.

“We’ll play them again,” Burnes said. “I think the only way we can progress is if we have to overtake them. We played great against these guys in the regular season, so there’s no reason why we can’t make it in the postseason.”

But first, the Orioles – who won the season series against the Yankees 8-5 – will finish their regular season with three games in Minnesota.

Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez (15-9, 4.11 ERA) will make his 32nd start of the season on Friday. He already has a career-high number of wins and needs to strike out 10 batters to reach 200 strikeouts for the second straight season.

The 28-year-old hopes to bounce back after a poor start in his final game against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday. He allowed seven runs on nine hits in four innings in an 8-1 loss. He also allowed two home runs in one start for the first time since June 18.

This will be Lopez’s fourth career start against the Orioles. He is 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA in his first three outings and has given up two earned runs on seven hits in 17 innings.

Baltimore will counter with left-hander Cade Povich (2-9, 5.59 ERA), who will make the 16th start of his rookie season. He has 67 strikeouts in 74 innings this season.

Povich is looking for his first win since September 3 against the Chicago White Sox. He had a no-decision in his last outing on Saturday after allowing two runs on two hits in five innings in his team’s 6-4 loss to Detroit.

This will be Povich’s first game against Minnesota, the organization that drafted him in the third round out of Nebraska in 2021. The Twins traded him and several other minor league prospects to the Orioles a year later for veteran reliever Jorge Lopez.

–Field level media