the medial collateral ligament in training camp but

Aaron Slegers and Jake Cave have been called up from Triple-A by the Minnesota Twins three times apiece this season http://www.lionsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jahlani-tavai-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,” 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 Kyler Murray Jersey , 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., who played 3,001 games for Baltimore. Davis has appeared in 972 contests.

MAN, CAVE

Cave, who was recalled from Rochester last week http://www.arizonacardinalsteamonline.com/byron-murphy-jersey , 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.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — While the Carolina Panthers opened the regular season with a 16-8 win against the Dallas Cowboys, it did not come without a cost.Three-time Pro Bowl tight end Greg Olsen spent the second half watching the game from the sideline on crutches with his right foot in a boot — the same foot he fractured in 2017 causing him to miss nine games. Later in the game, second-team All-Pro right tackle Daryl Williams was carted off with a knee injury and did not return.Panthers coach Ron Rivera and general manager Marty Hurney offered no immediate updates Monday on the extent of the injuries.“I’ve told you this, and I’ll tell you again: I have not talked to RV (head athletic trainer Ryan Vermillion),” Rivera said Monday. “I usually wait until after this (news conference). It’s a question I’m not going to answer. I don’t know (the extent of the injury), to be honest with you.”The Panthers are expected to turn to rookie Ian Thomas to start Sunday at tight end against Atlanta, while Amini Silatolu will likely fill in at right tackle.The Panthers are high on Thomas, who they think has the combination of receiving and blocking skills to be a good fit in their offense Andy Isabella Jersey , even though he only played two seasons of major college football at Indiana.“I think he’s pretty well prepared,” Rivera said. “There are some things, obviously, that he still has to learn and he has a long way to go in terms of having the natural feel that Greg has and having that rapport Greg has.“He’s been good with his blocking, he’s been good with his route running, he’s been good with his receiving. But he’s got to get better as a route runner, a blocker and a receiver. He’s a young guy. There’s a lot to his game he’s got to learn.”When the Panthers drafted Thomas with the first pick in the fourth round this year they did so with the idea of bringing him along slowly and learning behind Olsen.He was a project, more or less.But now everything has been fast-tracked.“It’s like going right into the fire and playing right away,” Thomas said. “Learning from my mistakes every play. I played two years of college football but I guess now is my time to get all of the kinks out.”Thomas said he spoke to several teams before the NFL draft and walked away feeling that some of them felt like he wasn’t a good blocker. He disagrees and is out to change that image.“I felt like I have gotten much better over the last few months,” Thomas said.As for Williams, he dislocated his kneecap and tore the medial collateral ligament in training camp but managed to return for the season opener, which was no small feat. But he injured the same knee against the Cowboys when he got hit there by another player’s helmet.Silatolu, who had pretty much won the starting left guard spot before his own knee injury in preseason, will test his ware at the tackle spot if called upon to start.