Revere's catch is the talk of Twins' loss to O's

MINNEAPOLIS — When center fielder Ben Revere hit the ground after making a catch against the wall Monday night, he had to peek inside his glove to make sure he really did have the ball.

He did. And the result was a spectacular catch that was the talk of the Minnesota clubhouse on a night when the punchless Twins lost 4-1 to the Baltimore Orioles.

It was a catch that drew comparisons from Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire to plays made inside the Metrodome by former Twins stars Torii Hunter and Kirby Puckett.

With two outs in the seventh, Baltimore's Vladimir Guerrero hit a ball to the deepest part of Target Field that looked to be at least an extra-base hit. Revere sprinted toward the center-field wall unsure of whether he would even have a chance to make a play on the ball.

As he got close to the wall, the 5-foot-9 Revere jumped toward the fence. As both feet hit the wall, he reached up with his glove. The ball landed in Revere's glove as it was up against the wall and he tumbled to the ground.

"I saw the way my glove ran into the wall and I bounced off," Revere said. "When I saw (Michael) Cuddyer and (Jason) Kubel, their jaws just dropped. ... I looked in to make sure it didn't come out. I was sort of like, I did! It didn't come out! Wow!"

Gardenhire, who managed the acrobatic Hunter and was on the Twins coaching staff when Puckett started leaping above the soft Metrodome wall to take away home runs, was certainly impressed.

"That might be one of the best catches I've ever seen considering he ran 50, 60 yards to catch the ball," Gardenhire said. "And then all the way over his head and jumping into the wall. That's probably one of the best you're going to see."

It was an effort that was certainly appreciated by veteran Twins starter Carl Pavano.

"It's probably one of the best plays I've had behind me in my career," Pavano said. "That isn't an easy play at all, especially climbing the wall."

Revere, in his first full season in the majors, is known for his defense. The native of Lexington, Ky., is very speedy and can cover a lot of ground in the outfield. While this was Revere's 85th game this season for the Twins, this was easily his most memorable catch.

"To do that for the first time, it felt good," he said.

Little else went well for the Twins.

While Minnesota had eight hits against the Orioles, it stranded 10 runners and went 0 for 7 with men in scoring position. One day after getting shut out by the Yankees, Minnesota managed just a single run on Joe Mauer's groundout in the third and lost for the 16th time in 21 games.

Zach Britton (7-9) gave up six hits over five innings and won for the first time in 10 weeks for Baltimore.

Minnesota also had to watch ex-Twin J.J. Hardy produce. Hardy, who scored twice, broke a 1-all tie in the fifth inning with a line drive home run off Pavano (6-10) that sailed over the left-field wall.

Mauer had a play on a foul pop earlier in the at-bat, but couldn't make the catch when a fan wearing a Mauer jersey in the front row appeared to get in his way.

Pavano pitched seven innings for Minnesota, giving up four runs on nine hits.

In the eighth inning, both Gardenhire and third baseman Danny Valencia were ejected by plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. Valencia argued a pitch that was called for a strike and then Gardenhire was tossed while defending his player.

"Danny motioned to him, something like, 'That's three tonight,' and he got thrown out," Gardenhire of his sixth ejection this season and 60th in his career. "I've got to go out and defend a little bit. Hunter and I have actually gotten along very well. It was just one of those things. I was frustrated and probably didn't need to get thrown out of the ballgame. I don't have that many players and I told him about that. That's my fault, not Hunter's. I probably deserved, hopefully, every five dollars of it."

Valencia also said he erred in talking back to Wendelstedt.

"It was a culmination of the entire game for me," said Valencia, who also talked after being called out on strikes in the second inning. "I let it get the best of me and I shouldn't have."

a-flied out for Butera in the 9th.

LOB_Baltimore 6, Minnesota 10. 2B_Markakis (22), Plouffe (8), Cuddyer 2 (26), Valencia (26). HR_Hardy (24), off Pavano; Wieters (13), off Pavano. RBIs_Hardy (60), Markakis (59), Wieters (44), R.Adams (2), Mauer (25). SB_Andino (8). CS_Mar.Reynolds (4). S_Hardy.

Runners left in scoring position_Baltimore 3 (Ad.Jones 2, Guerrero); Minnesota 6 (Thome 3, Revere, Kubel 2).

Runners moved up_Mauer, Butera. GIDP_Mauer.

DP_Baltimore 1 (Britton, Hardy, Mar.Reynolds).

Inherited runners-scored_M.Gonzalez 2-0.

Umpires_Home, Hunter Wendelstedt; First, Brian Knight; Second, Jerry Layne; Third, Bob Davidson.

T_2:44. A_38,986 (39,500).