BALTIMORE — Gunnar Henderson grounded the third pitch of the game just past a diving Edouard Julien into the outfield. The knock was struck at 108.0 miles per hour off the bat, an early sign of what was to come against Chris Paddack.

Paddack was bashed around by the Orioles on Tuesday night, giving up all kinds of hard contact in a start that was one of his worst ever. The Twins starter allowed 10 balls hit at 100 mph or higher and gave up nine runs, tying a career worst, in the Twins’ 11-3 loss to the Orioles.

Things unraveled early for Paddack and the Twins, beginning in the second inning when the starter gave up three runs, all with a pair of outs. Two came on a Henderson home run. Four more runners touched home in the third inning — two on another two-run blast — and the Orioles tacked on another run in the fourth and one more in the sixth, the last an inherited runner after Paddack had departed.

The nine-run outburst bloated Paddack’s earned-run average to 8.36 on the season — he has now given up 13 earned runs in 14 innings pitched. It’s certainly not the start that Paddack or the Twins were looking for from the 28-year-old, who returned to the rotation this year after spending much of last rehabbing from his second Tommy John surgery.

His day came after the prolific Orioles offense hung six runs on Louie Varland a day earlier in a game that had a more or less similar feel.

The Twins’ offense was led in part by Ryan Jeffers, who had another two hits on the day. Jeffers scored one of the Twins’ runs, coming home to score on an Alex Kirilloff single. Byron Buxton drove in Kirilloff for the team’s first run of the day with a triple in the fourth inning.

On an otherwise unremarkable night for the Twins, 24-year-old catcher Jair Camargo pinch hit in the ninth inning, drawing a walk in his first major league plate appearance in front of a crowd that included enthusiastic family members in town from his native Colombia. He would later come around to score on a Jose Miranda single.

Baltimore Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson (2) and James McCann (27) drink from the team’s Homer Hydration Station after scoring on Henderson’s home run against the Minnesota Twins during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Jess Rapfogel)
Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Chris Paddack throws to a Baltimore Orioles batter during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Jess Rapfogel)

By LARRY NEUMEISTER (Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) — Sen. Bob Menendez may seek exoneration at his May bribery trial by blaming his wife, saying she kept him in the dark about anything that could be illegal about her dealings with New Jersey businessmen, according to court papers unsealed Tuesday.

Several sentences in a January court filing by lawyers for the Democrat were unsealed in Manhattan federal court after some news organizations insisted that public disclosure was required. Menendez’s lawyers had redacted the documents, claiming that the sentences revealed trial strategy that could bias the jury pool.

According to the passages that were unsealed, Menendez plans to testify about what he believes were exculpatory communications with his wife, Nadine, if he decides to take the witness stand in his defense.

“While these explanations, and the marital communications on which they rely, will tend to exonerate Senator Menendez by demonstrating the absence of any improper intent on Senator Menendez’s part, they may inculpate Nadine by demonstrating the ways in which she withheld information from Senator Menendez or otherwise led him to believe that nothing unlawful was taking place,” the lawyers wrote.

As they sought to sever the trials of the senator and his wife, the lawyers said they planned to assert at trial that Sen. Menendez lacked the knowledge necessary to commit a crime and did not agree to any of the conspiracies outlined in the indictment against him.

With such a trial strategy, the lawyers said they may have to argue, in effect, that any crimes involved the actions of others, including his wife, rather than the senator. They added, though, that they were not aware of any unlawful conduct.

Although the motion to sever the trials was initially denied, Judge Sidney H. Stein has since ruled that they can take place separately after it was revealed that Nadine Menendez needs surgery in the next six weeks. Her trial is now delayed until at least July.

The Menendezes and two businessmen have pleaded not guilty to charges that they participated in a bribery scheme in which prosecutors say cash and gold bars were given to the couple in return for the senator carrying out political favors. Bob Menendez chaired the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee until he stepped down from the role in September because of the allegations.

A third businessman, Jose Uribe, has pleaded guilty to bribery charges and agreed to testify against the others at trial. Uribe said he conspired with Nadine Menendez and others to provide her with a Mercedes-Benz in return for access to her husband’s power and influence.

According to the indictment, the Menendezes accepted bribes to help one businessmen get a lucrative meat-certification deal with Egypt and another associate get a deal with a Qatari investment fund.

The redacted passages in the March filing were unsealed after media organizations led by NBCUniversal Media and including The Associated Press argued that the public’s right to access the documents overrode any concerns by Menendez’s attorneys.

A Minneapolis man has been charged with third-degree murder for allegedly selling fentanyl-laced heroin to a childhood friend who then overdosed and died at a White Bear Lake hotel in 2021.

William James Dykes was charged by warrant in Ramsey County District Court on Monday in connection with the death of a 28-year-old man at the Best Western Plus along U.S. 61 on Nov. 8, 2021. Dykes, 30, was not jailed as of late Tuesday.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office opened a case for review in late February, spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said Tuesday.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police officers responded to the hotel just before 11 a.m. on a possible overdose and found the man, identified in the complaint by his initials JMN, unresponsive in a second-floor room. Medics transported him to Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A 27-year-old woman and a 25-year-old man were in the room when officers arrived and they both said JMN had used heroin shortly before his death. They didn’t tell officers where JMN got the heroin and neither of them made themselves available for follow-up interviews throughout the investigation.

An autopsy showed JMN died of mixed drug toxicity and that he had fentanyl and alcohol in his system.

JMN’s former girlfriend told officers that she had spoken with the 25-year-old man and he said JMN asked him if “snorting heroin was better than smoking it,” the complaint says. JMN snorted the heroin and went unresponsive five minutes later.

Investigators spoke to JMN’s mother. She said that on the night before his death, JMN left his Apple Watch at her home and that she was able to monitor messages between her son and Dykes. She said her son and Dykes grew up together, played football together. Dykes also used to work for her family’s business, she said.

In the messages, JMN asked Dykes when he was going to arrive at the hotel. She said that she called Dykes the morning of her son’s death because she was looking for him. Dykes said he sold her son marijuana.

In a recorded phone conversation, the 25-year-old man told JMN’s former girlfriend that Dykes had delivered what was “supposed to be heroin but that everything is cut with fentanyl these days,” the complaint says.

Cellphone records showed texts between JMN and Dykes that mentioned meeting at the hotel the night before the death. They also showed JMN paid Dykes through Venmo.

Dykes told investigators that he and JMN were childhood friends and that he had worked for JMN’s family for four years. He said he was not sure when he last saw JMN. When asked what he knew about JMN’s death, Dykes asked to end the interview.

Nearly a year after JMN’s death, Dykes received a text message that read, “I don’t blame you for the [JMN] situation,” the complaint says. “And I would never rat on you hence why I never went in to give a statement.”

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