Aaron Slegers and Jake Cave have been called up from Triple-A by the Minnesota Twins three times apiece this season Jimmy Vesey 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 Jonathan Huberdeau Jersey , 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, 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 Zach Hyman Jersey , 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, 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 Womens Andrew Cogliano Jersey , 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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John Paxson insisted the Chicago Bulls are in a good position. And the Bulls’ top executive hopes they are never in this spot again.

”We did this year what we felt was in the long-term best interests of the Bulls,” Paxson said Thursday. ”It’s not a situation that any of us want to ever be in again. It goes against everything as a competitive person that you believe in, but it’s the way the system is set up. To be very honest, we believe we’ve done it the right way.”

The Bulls went 27-55, their worst record since the 2003-04 season, and missed the playoffs for the second time in three years. But they are staying the course after going all-in on rebuilding.

Paxson, Chicago’s executive vice president of basketball operations, praised coach Fred Hoiberg and said he will ”absolutely” return for a fourth season. He said most of the roster will be back ”because we’re headed in the right direction” and called this ”as important a summer as we’ve had in a very long time.”

Here are some things to know heading into the offseason:

PIECES IN PLACE

The Bulls believe they set themselves up for long-term success when they traded Jimmy Butler to Minnesota for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen on draft night last year. All three players they landed showed promise, with Markkanen emerging as one of the league’s top rookies. Throw in a lottery pick as well as another first-rounder this year and the Bulls believe they are positioning themselves to make a jump in the Eastern Conference.

LOCKING IN LAVINE

The Bulls didn’t give up Butler only to let LaVine go as a restricted free agent. But there could be some interesting negotiations. Paxson said general manager Gar Forman will talk to LaVine’s agent ”at the appropriate time.”

”I think the market has tightened up a little bit the last couple years,” Paxson said. ”But we obviously value Zach a lot. We think he’s a part of our future, but he has the opportunity to explore things.

The two-time slam dunk champion missed the first 42 games while recovering from a torn ACL in the left knee that he suffered with Minnesota and sat out the final 14 because of tendinitis in the knee. LaVine flashed his explosiveness but clearly had some rust to knock off when he was available, averaging 16.7 points in 24 games. For now, he’s looking forward to a summer without rehab.

”I missed the whole last offseason and that’s where I make a lot of my jumps in the summer Reilly Smith Jersey ,” LaVine said.

ON POINT

From struggling rookie to solid NBA player in his second season, Dunn made quite a jump. But he remains far from a finished product. Though he averaged 13.4 points in 52 games and tied for fourth in the league in steals (2 per game), Dunn averaged 2.9 turnovers. Paxson said he’s comfortable with him as the No. 1 point guard next season and Cameron Payne as the backup. But did Dunn do enough to establish himself as the Bulls’ long-term starter?

”What we saw from Kris Dunn this year was really encouraging,” said Paxson, who would like to see Dunn become a stronger finisher. ”When he was healthy, he showed some real competitiveness.”

PRAISING HOIBERG

Paxson had strong praise for Hoiberg, saying he and his staff ”set the culture correctly in the summer” and held the team together despite all the losses. Hoiberg is 110-136 in three seasons with the Bulls. But he finally had a roster suited to his pace and space style.

”Fred and our guys set the tone when our guys came back and they just had the everyday attitude of working,” Paxson said. ”That needs to carry over and it will. Our guys need to continue to buy in which we believe they will.”

DRAFT ON TAP

With the sixth or seventh slot in the lottery and a pick from New Orleans in the 20 to 23 range, the Bulls need to hit in the draft this year if they’re going to accelerate the rebuild. Paxson indicated the Bulls will look to add more size and versatility on the wing. Mikal Bridges of Villanova could be a possibility with their higher pick.

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