Orioles Win in Ninth, Stop Twins’ Streak

It is a cardinal rule of baseball not to put an opponent’s potential winning run on base deliberately. Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly defied that tradition Monday night and paid for it with the Twins’ 15-game winning streak.

Randy Milligan’s two-out, two-strike, two-run double to left-center climaxed a three-run ninth-inning rally that brought the Baltimore Orioles a 6-5 victory.

Milligan’s drive followed an intentional walk to Cal Ripken Jr., who raced home from first with the winning run.

The victim was relief ace Rick Aguilera, who had pitched three innings Sunday at Cleveland and obviously had little left when Kelly brought him in to start the ninth.

The Twins had swept three one-run decisions from the Orioles in the Metrodome.

Baltimore Manager John Oates said, “I looked up at the scoreboard, it read 5-4 and I thought, ‘How many times have we been one hit away?’ Then it’s up against the wall.”

Asked about his decision, Kelly said: “That’s the right thing to do, I believe. If I had to do it over, I’d do the same thing. Rick just put the pitch right down the middle of the plate, and that’s the way it goes.”

The Orioles defended Kelly.

Oates said: “There are times when you have to put the winning run on base. I probably would have done the same thing.”

Milligan said: “Cal’s leading the league and I’m hitting .247. What would you do? The first two pitches (swinging strikes), I was hyped up and I had to relax. I was looking for a pitch I could handle, I got one and I put it in the gap.”

Left fielder Dan Gladden, an eighth-inning replacement, fumbled the ball, eliminating any chance of a play on Ripken at the plate.

“It was right in between Danny and me, and we had to play it off the wall,” center fielder Kirby Puckett said. “It would have taken two perfect throws and as soon as Danny bobbled it, we had no chance. I’ll tell you one thing, the fans got their money’s worth. I thought it was a great game.”

The Twins, who insisted all along that their winning streak was nothing special, took the defeat in the same vein.

“We played good baseball throughout the streak, and we played good baseball tonight,” said starter Allan Anderson, who would have won his fourth consecutive start if Aguilera had been sharper. “We’ve played some pretty close ballgames, and the past 15 games went our way. Tonight it went down to the wire and it went against us.”

Aguilera took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth, but David Segui opened the inning with a single, pinch-runner Juan Bell took second on Brady Anderson’s single and both runners advanced on Mike Deveraux’s sacrifice.

Pinch-hitter Joe Orsulak’s sacrifice fly made it 5-4 before the intentional walk of Ripken.

The Twins, who lost for the first time this month, were foiled in their effort to match Kansas City’s 16-game winning streak in 1977. Despite the loss, they stayed a half-game ahead of Oakland in the American League West.

Said Kelley: “It was a real exciting time for us. I told the players I hoped they enjoyed it as much as I did. Now some of the heat is off, so let’s see if we can get something going again tomorrow.”

Mark Williamson (1-2), who pitched the last 1 2/3 innings, was the winner as the Orioles matched their season-best with their third consecutive victory. Baltimore also jumped out of the AL East cellar for the first time since May 11.