The Baltimore Orioles are contending for a wild-card spot, but that hasn’t stopped them from letting players go at the trade deadline this season. A day after trading Trey Mancini to the Houston Astros, the Orioles traded closer Jorge Lopez to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday.
The Orioles received four minor league pitchers: left-hander Cade Povich, right-handed reliever Yennier Cano, right-handed reliever Juan Nunez and left-hander Juan Rojas.
Lopez has 19 saves and is 4-6 with a 1.68 ERA. He has 54 strikeouts in 48⅓ innings pitched this season.
Emilio Pagan leads the Twins with nine saves this season, followed by Jhoan Duran with six.
The AL Central-leading Twins (54-48) have a one-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians entering Tuesday’s games. The Orioles (52-51) have been a surprise this season and are just 2½ games out of the AL’s final wild-card spot.
Povich, 22, selected in the third round of the 2021 draft, is 6-8 with a 4.46 ERA in 16 starts for High-A Cedar Rapids this season. Cano, 28, is 1-0 with a 9.22 ERA in 13⅔ innings pitched in the majors this season and 1-1 with a 1.90 ERA in 23⅔ innings at Triple-A St. Paul. Nunez, 26, is 4-2 with a 3.49 ERA in 28⅓ innings at the High-A level this season. Rojas, 18, is 1-2 with a 3.60 ERA in eight appearances (six starts) over 30 innings pitched in the Florida Complex League.