BALTIMORE -- Just four pitches into Tuesday’s matchup at Oriole Park, catcher Mitch Garver was struck in the groin by a fouled-off slider. He was helped off the field, with rookie Ben Rortvedt coming in to catch for the 14th time this season.

“I [was] really worried, because the way he looked, it made me nervous,” said starting pitcher Michael Pineda. “It didn't look good. I wasn't thinking about pitching, I was thinking about my teammate, because the way he looked, I felt like it was a lot of pain.”

The Twins said that Garver suffered a groin contusion, but he will be evaluated again Wednesday.

Pineda had worked with the rookie catcher in two other starts this season. But even before the injury delay, the pitcher’s night was off in the Twins’ 7-4 loss to the Orioles, their first defeat vs. the O's since March 31, 2018.

Two pitches into the game, Pineda allowed his first triple of the season to Cedric Mullins. His fourth pitch was the injury to Garver and the fifth was an RBI single to Trey Mancini, giving Baltimore its first lead of the series.

“Our catchers as a whole do kind of lock-in -- maybe not to the extent of the starting catchers, but they certainly spend a sufficient amount of time preparing for lineups and being familiar with who we’re facing -- so certainly that’s not a lost type of situation,” said manager Rocco Baldelli of Rortvedt and Willians Astudillo, who both had reps at catcher in Tuesday’s game.

Kyle Garlick answered the O's run with a game-tying homer in the top of the third, proof of his continued success against left-handed pitchers.

The game did not remain tied for long, as Pineda gave up four straight hits that resulted in four earned runs against the righty. The third inning marked the first time Pineda has allowed four or more runs in a single frame since June 23, 2019, when he gave up five to Kansas City.

Pineda started complaining of tightness in his right forearm after tossing three innings. The pitcher had never experienced the tightness before, but he told his skipper he would be OK to stay in the game if needed.

“I think Mike left some pitches obviously in the middle of the zone,” said Baldelli. “I don’t think he was very sharp or felt very good from the very beginning of the start tonight.”

Between the tightness and the Orioles' good read on Pineda’s curveball, Baldelli called on his bullpen to record the last 15 outs.

Minnesota’s ‘pen has been its Achilles' heel; it owned MLB’s seventh-worst ERA (4.72) heading into Tuesday’s game. Both Luke Farrell and Juan Minaya allowed a solo home run, further stretching Baltimore’s lead.

“I thought [our bullpen] went out there and kind of battled through this situation of us being down, and was trying to get back into the game pretty well,” Baldelli said. “I think our guys threw the ball well. They were competitive. They threw some pretty good pitches too, maybe didn't get a few calls go their way. But they just kept going.”

Minnesota was unable to earn the win, dropping the 12th of its 18 games played opposite a southpaw. Baldelli doesn’t like to think about trends or streaks, so he's quickly shaking off the loss, knowing his team is doing the same.