The first pitch set the tone for Minnesota.

Jake Cave robbed Tim Beckham of a home run Cowboys Elite Jerseys , helping Lance Lynn bounce back from two poor starts, and Max Kepler homered to lead the Twins to a 6-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.

Beckham drilled Lynn’s first offering to the deepest part of Target Field, but Cave raced to the wall, leapt, reached back and caught the ball while fully extended to deny a home run.

”It’s up there with actually hitting a home run, it’s cool to be able to help the pitcher like that and take one back,” Cave said.

Beckham tipped his cap to the Twins’ rookie.

”That’s pretty cool for him to do that. I’m sure he’s made a lot of great plays against guys in his career, so he knows what it feels like to do something like that,” Cave said.

It was the second straight day Cave made a fully extended catch at the wall. He robbed Chris Davis in right-center Thursday.

”I definitely didn’t want to start the game by giving up a solo home run. One heck of a play and I was able to get into a rhythm after that,” Lynn said.

Lynn (6-7) allowed six hits and one earned run in six innings as he continued his up-and-down season. He allowed 11 earned runs in 6 2/3 innings over his previous two starts, including seven in 1 2/3 innings last Sunday at Wrigley Field. His ERA was 1.74 ERA in six starts from May 22 to June 20, but 7.47 in his first eight starts of the season.

”You’re gonna have your good ones and your bad ones,” he said.

Up 6-0, Lynn needed 27 pitches to get through the sixth when Baltimore scored its first run, including 10 against Jonathan Schoop, an at-bat that ended in a double play.

”I threw a couple pitches that I thought he’d do that earlier,” Lynn said. ”He covers a lot of the plate both sides and he finally hit a ball and we were able to turn it.”

Caleb Joseph had a season-high three hits for the Orioles, losers of four straight and 11 of 12.

In his first start since going on the disabled list June 23 with a left ankle sprain, Baltimore’s Dylan Bundy (6-8) allowed nine hits and five earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. It is his second-shortest start of the season. The right-hander allowed seven runs without recording an out May 8 vs. Kansas City.

Brian Dozier and Jorge Polanco had RBI singles in the first inning as Minnesota jumped out to a 3-0 lead, increasing Bundy’s opening frame ERA to 9.00. It is 3.13 in innings two through nine.

Kepler made it 5-0 in the fourth with a two-run homer to right field.

”If anything, I was trying to miss low and it ended up right down the middle and he was able to hit it out. That was pretty much how the whole game was, throwing stuff right down the middle,” Bundy said.

BALANCED ATTACK

Polanco, Joe Mauer, Eddie Rosario and Mitch Garver each had two hits for the Twins, who have won two straight after a six-game skid.

FRY IS FINE

In his third career game, Baltimore reliever Paul Fry struck out four and did not allow a hit in 2 1-3 innings. The left-hander was called up June 29.

”Pitching looks easy when you locate a fastball and spin a ball for a strike anytime in the count, but it’s not that easy. He was in a really good place today and you could tell,” said manager Buck Showalter.

TRAINERS ROOM

Orioles: To make room for Bundy, RHP David Hess was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. . INF Luis Sardi锟絘s (left ankle sprain) was reinstated from the 60-day disabled list. He cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Norfolk.

Twins: Manager Paul Molitor said there is a ”really good chance” INF Ehire Adrianza, out since July 2 with a left hamstring strain, will be ready to play when he can come off the DL next Thursday. . INF/OF Taylor Motter was activated off the 7-day DL (concussion-like symptoms) and optioned to Double-A Chattanooga.

UP NEXT

A pair of right-handers are scheduled to start Saturday with Baltimore’s Kevin Gausman (4-6, 4.05) facing Minnesota’s Kyle Gibson (2-6 Broncos Elite Jerseys , 3.58). Gausman has allowed two or fewer runs in four straight starts. Gibson has allowed more than three earned runs just once in his last nine turns.

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It was the closest thing to a perfect scenario for the Red Sox: Eduardo Rodriguez on the mound against the lowly Baltimore Orioles.

Home runs by Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi helped Rodriguez win his fifth straight start, and Boston extended Baltimore’s losing streak to six games with a 6-4 victory Tuesday night.

Rodriguez (8-1) gave up two runs and eight hits over 5 2/3 innings to increase a career-best run of success that began on May 20 against the Orioles. Rodriguez is 3-0 this season against Baltimore, the team that gave the left-hander his first professional contract in 2010 and traded him to Boston in 2014.

”Eduardo was good. The next step for him is to go deeper into the game and keep that pitch count down,” manager Alex Cora said.

It took Rodriguez 109 pitches to get 17 outs, but he left with a 6-2 lead.

”I’m throwing the ball good and I want to keep on doing it,” Rodriguez said. ”The more wins you get, the closer you get to the playoffs.”

No team in the big leagues has more wins than Boston (46). The Red Sox are 12-1 in Rodriguez’s starts, including 5-0 on the road, and 8-1 overall against Baltimore.

Devers hit a two-run drive in the second inning and Benintendi connected in the third for a 3-1 lead. A bases-loaded walk and a run-scoring balk made it 5-2 in the fourth, and Boston coasted from there.

Joey Rickard homered for the Orioles, who own the worst record in the big leagues (19-47) and have endured six losing streaks of at least five games.

Before Mark Trumbo doubled in two runs in the ninth, Baltimore was 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position. And despite that hit, the Orioles are 3 for 48 in that situation during their current skid.

Rookie pitcher David Hess (2-3) stumbled in his sixth big league start, allowing five runs, five hits and a career-high four walks in 3 1/3 innings.

”At the end of the day, if I execute some pitches a little bit better I think the results are different,” Hess said. ”But that’s a good lineup. You’ve got to be at your best going out there and tonight I wasn’t.”

Baltimore reliever Zach Britton made his season debut, six months after undergoing surgery for a ruptured right Achilles tendon. The lefty pitched a scoreless seventh inning.

”It almost felt like my debut, like an out-of-body experience,” Britton said. ”It was weird.”

TAKE A SEAT

Red Sox: OF Mookie Betts was held out of the starting lineup, one day after ending a 14-game stay on the disabled list with an abdominal strain. Cora said he didn’t want to push Betts so soon after his return, but intends to start him in Wednesday’s series finale.

Orioles: Struggling 1B Chris Davis (.150 batting average, 86 Ks) was benched and likely will also be held out of the starting lineup Wednesday, manager Buck Showalter said.

WELCOME, KID

The Orioles agreed to terms with first-round pick Grayson Rodriguez, a right-hander from Central Heights High School in Texas. Selected 11th overall, Rodriguez was introduced to the crowd in the fourth inning.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: Relief pitcher Carson Smith, who hurt his shoulder last month when he threw his glove in the dugout after giving up a home run to Oakland’s Khris Davis, will have surgery Wednesday and could be lost for the season, Cora said. … There is no timetable for the return of 2B Dustin Pedroia (knee), a four-time All-Star who was placed on the disabled list June 2. The team will wait until the inflammation subsides before taking the next step.

Orioles: RHP Andrew Cashner was placed on the DL with back spasms. He’s expected to miss only one start. … SS Manny Machado returned to the lineup after sitting out with an illness Monday.

UP NEXT

Red Sox: Chris Sale (5-4, 2.83 ERA) tries to end a run of three straight losing starts on Wednesday.

Orioles: Baltimore takes another stab at becoming the final major league team to win 20 games in 2018. Yefry Ramirez will be recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to replace Cashner as the starter.

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