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Aaron Slegers and Jake Cave have been called up from Triple-A by the Minnesota Twins three times apiece this season [url=http://www.falconscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-calvin-ridley-jersey]Authentic Calvin Ridley Jersey[/url] , and the All-Star break is still more than one week away.

Their contributions to this struggling team on Thursday night were sure worthy of a longer stay.

Slegers picked up his first major league win with six smooth innings, Cave reached base all four times he batted, and the Twins stopped their six-game losing streak by hanging on for a 5-2 victory over the lowly Baltimore Orioles.

”I know that I think, and I know Slegers thinks the same thing, that we can play big league baseball,” Cave said. ”We’re ready to go anytime the team needs us, and that’s just kind of how you’ve got to think of it.”

Logan Morrison homered and Cave drove in an eighth-inning insurance run with one of his two doubles for the Twins, who turned to Fernando Rodney in the ninth for his 18th save following two consecutive blown chances. Slegers (1-0) gave up only one run, on the first of two homers by Jonathan Schoop.

”It’s fun to have that in the stat column, to be a major league winner,” Slegers said. ”I can say that for the rest of my life.”

With eight right-handers in the Orioles lineup, except for Chris Davis, Slegers put his sinker to good use against the second-lowest scoring team in MLB. The Orioles managed just three hits against the 6-foot-10 Slegers, who was the latest to fill the recently revolving fifth spot in the rotation. Manager Paul Molitor stopped short of a commitment, but he indicated Slegers earned another turn after needing only 72 pitches to complete those six innings in his first major league start this season.

”Sometimes you make tough decisions to protect those young guys when they’ve had good outings and make sure they feel good when they come out of the game [url=http://www.broncosauthorizedshops.com/authentic-bradley-chubb-jersey]http://www.broncosauthorizedshops.com/authentic-bradley-chubb-jersey[/url] ,” Molitor said.

The Orioles squandered another quality start by Andrew Cashner (2-9) and lost for the 10th time in 11 games. They have the worst record in the major leagues at 24-62, just the team the Twins needed to face to start a season-long 11-game homestand after a pivotal 1-8 road trip.

Trailing AL Central-leading Cleveland by 11 1/2 games, Minnesota has become a probable seller before the non-waiver trade deadline on July 31 with several accomplished players on expiring contracts. Baltimore has essentially been in that boat since April, with slugging shortstop Manny Machado widely considered the best asset on the market this summer.

CASHED OUT

Cashner, one of the offseason acquisitions by the Orioles that suggested their commitment to contending in the daunting AL East, has had more than three runs scored for him in only one of his 17 starts this year. He gave up three runs, two earned, and six hits.

”It’s not like we didn’t want to score for him,” Schoop said. ”I hope things start changing.”

Orioles starters have received the least amount of run support in the major leagues this season.

”I probably had the worst stuff I’ve had this season, but I thought I just grinded throughout the game,” Cashner said. ”When you’re not scoring runs, I feel like I keep my mind sharp on what I want to do out there and thinking pitch to pitch.”

WHOOPS

Cashner was charged with an error in the third, when he was covering first base on a chopper hit by Bobby Wilson to Davis and fumbled the relay toss to let Cave score from second. Wilson eventually scored on a single by Eddie Rosario.

WHIFFS

Rodney struck out Davis to start a perfect ninth, pushing the sputtering slugger into a first-place tie on the Orioles list for strikeouts with 1,305. He is tied with Cal Ripken Jr. [url=http://www.chiefsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-derrick-nnadi-jersey]Chiefs Derrick Nnadi Jersey[/url] , who played 3,001 games for Baltimore. Davis has appeared in 972 contests.

MAN, CAVE

Cave, who was recalled from Rochester last week, made a fully extended catch at the wall in right-center to take a potential extra-base hit away from Davis in the fourth inning. Cave doubled twice, driving in one run, to go with a single and an intentional walk.

”He can really flash it out there,” Slegers said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Orioles: RHP Darren O’Day (strained left hamstring) has been scheduled for his season-ending surgery on July 12. He’ll need six months to recover.

DOZIER’S DAY

Twins second baseman Brian Dozier, who has started 80 of 84 games and appeared in all but one this season, went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. He’s batting .218.

UP NEXT

Orioles: RHP Dylan Bundy (6-7, 3.75 ERA) will come off the DL to start Friday night. Bundy has been sidelined by a sprained left ankle.

Twins: RHP Lance Lynn (5-7, 5.49 ERA) will take the mound in the second game of the series, coming off his worst turn of the season. He gave up seven runs in Chicago to the Cubs in just 1 2/3 innings.

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Stifled by the salary cap, the Atlanta Falcons won’t be offering Julio Jones a more lucrative contract.

Not this year, at least.

Now the question is: Will the star receiver show up for training camp?

The Falcons informed Jones several weeks ago that they would not renegotiate his current $71.5 million package [url=http://www.brownsauthorizedshops.com]Browns Game Jerseys[/url] , which still has three years remaining and included $47 million in guaranteed money, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because the talks have not been made public.

The team’s decision, which was first reported by The Athletic, does not preclude talks after the season on a deal more in line with Jones’ status as one of the NFL’s top receivers. But the Falcons do not believe they have enough financial leeway under the cap to renegotiate the contract in 2018.

The team hasn’t been told if Jones will be at training camp. Players are required to report next Thursday, with the first practice the following day.

Atlanta already agreed to a five-year, $150 million extension with quarterback Matt Ryan, the most lucrative deal in NFL history. The team is also focused on working out new contracts for defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, offensive guard Jake Matthews and safety Ricardo Allen.

A flurry of new contracts during the offseason dropped Jones, who makes an average salary of $14.25 million, out of the top half-dozen on the list of the league’s highest-paid receivers. Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans, Cleveland’s Jarvis Landry and Kansas City’s Sammy Watkins are among those now making more per year than Jones, a two-time All-Pro who caught 88 passes for 1,444 yards last season.

In 2015, Jones turned in one of the greatest seasons by a receiver with 136 receptions for 1,871 yards and eight touchdowns. He is a five-time Pro Bowler.

In an apparent sign of his unhappiness [url=http://www.clevelandindiansteamshops.com/authentic-lonnie-chisenhall-jersey]Lonnie Chisenhall Jersey[/url] , Jones skipped organized team workouts at the team’s training facility this summer, as well as a mandatory minicamp. But he apparently took part in Ryan’s private passing camp in California along with about a dozen of his teammates this month.

Jones has gone silent on social media and hasn’t talked with the Atlanta media in months. In one of his rare media appearances, he told TMZ that he has a good relationship with the franchise that pulled off a huge trade with Cleveland to make him a first-round pick in 2011.

”Everyone wants a story right now. There’s no story to be told,” Jones insisted. ”I’m just working on getting myself better. I’m just working on myself right now. That’s all that is. There’s no bad blood between me and the team or anything like that.”

Jones remains in the good graces of coach Dan Quinn, who didn’t seem at all upset when Jones skipped the minicamp .

”Sometimes football and business intersect,” Quinn said. ”That’s OK and that happens a lot.”

Quinn has talked constantly of ”brotherhood” and making sure players do everything as a team. For instance, the players stood together as a team on the sideline during the national anthem for all games after two players kneeled in protest early in the 2017 season.

Quinn doesn’t think Jones’ absence has affected the Falcons’ unity.

”Do we want everybody here all the time? Hell yeah, like all the time,” the coach said. ”What I’d say is if you ask to a man, the guy is a hell of a teammate, and the time he spends here, the way he mentors people, how hard he plays, there is plenty of brotherhood in Julio.”

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