Rookie Garza's third start a charm; Twins clip Orioles

BALTIMORE (AP) -- During the postgame television interview, Matt Garza was slapped in the face with a shaving cream pie.

But his teammates also made sure he got the game ball and the lineup card, their way of saying thanks for a fine performance in which he earned his first major league win.

Garza allowed one unearned run in six innings, Michael Cuddyer had three hits and two RBI, and the Minnesota Twins defeated the Baltimore Orioles 4-1 Wednesday night.

Elias Says
Matt Garza, the 25th pick in the 2005 amateur draft, earned his first major-league win in the Twins' 4-1 victory over the Orioles. The only other pitchers from the 2005 draft to have won a game in the majors to date are Mike Pelfrey of the Mets (2-1) and Craig Hansen of the Red Sox (1-1). • For more Elias Says, click here

Torii Hunter homered for the Twins, who got 13 hits off Baltimore starter Rodrigo Lopez. The victory, combined with Chicago's 7-5 win over Detroit, kept Minnesota a half-game behind the White Sox in the AL wild-card race.

Garza (1-2) came in with an 11.74 ERA after losing his first two starts. The right-hander gave up five hits, had one strikeout and one walk.

"Our young guy did a heck of a job," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, who was ejected in the fifth inning. "He threw the ball fantastic."

Garza, the 25th overall pick in the 2005 amateur draft, retired the side in order only once but was aided by several fine defensive plays.

In the second inning, shortstop Jason Bartlett dived in the hole to start a force play at second base. In the fourth, after Hunter made a leaping catch in center with Miguel Tejada on first, second baseman Luis Castillo dived behind the bag to snare a grounder by Jeff Conine to begin a force play.

Then, in the fifth, Cuddyer made a sprawling catch of a sinking liner to right by Nick Markakis with two outs and a runner on third.

Garza waited in the infield to give Cuddyer a high-five on his way to the dugout.

"I threw my breaking ball for strikes and let the defense do the work," Garza said. "It was a great feeling to have guys behind you do what they do. They made six or seven great plays tonight. It was awesome."

The next time, Garza won't have to worry about getting battered with shaving cream or seeking that elusive first big league victory.

"It takes the pressure off a little bit to get the first one out of the way," he said.

Joe Nathan, the fourth Minnesota reliever, worked the ninth for his 26th save.

Gardenhire was tossed from the game in the top of the fifth by plate umpire Angel Hernandez with Jason Kubel at bat. The ejection occurred while Gardenhire was in the dugout, and the manager emerged to plead his case -- to no avail.

"Even though I wasn't around much to see it, it was a great game for our ballclub," Gardenhire said.

Lopez (9-13) gave up four runs in six innings. He kept Minnesota hitless in only one inning, and the 13 hits he yielded were a season high.

"There were many ground balls and balls in the hole," Lopez lamented. "But I battled to keep my team in the game."

Markakis drove in the lone run for the Orioles, who had won five of six.

"They caught the ball. We hit a lot of good shots and they caught it," said Melvin Mora, who went 0-for-4. "He threw good enough to get people out, but he had a pretty good defense behind him."

The Twins went up 2-0 in the first inning when Cuddyer hit a two-out RBI double and scored on a single by Justin Morneau.

The Orioles scored an unearned run in the third when Markakis hit an RBI single after Bartlett booted a potential double-play grounder.

Hunter hit his 18th homer leading off the fourth. Joe Mauer doubled and scored on a single by Cuddyer to make it 4-1 in the fifth.

Game notes
After the game, the Twins activated OF Rondell White (hamstring) from the 15-day disabled list and optioned OF Josh Rabe to Triple-A Rochester. ... Recalled from Double-A Bowie earlier in the day, Baltimore RHP James Hoey issued a walk and struck out Kubel in his major league debut. The Orioles optioned RHP Chris Britton to Bowie to make room for Hoey. ... Baltimore C Ramon Hernandez threw out two would-be base stealers and is 28-for-71 (.394) this season, second in the AL behind Ivan Rodriguez. ... Garza lowered his ERA to 6.59. ... Twins rookie Pat Neshek, who pitched a scoreless seventh, has allowed two earned runs in 22 1/3 innings (0.81 ERA).