Minnesota @ Baltimore preview
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Last Meeting ( Jul 23, 2010 ) Minnesota 2, Baltimore 3
The Baltimore Orioles have welcomed an All-Star back in the lineup - even if it's just to play out the string.
Brian Roberts and the major-league worst Orioles will be looking to start a rare winning streak when they face the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.
Roberts, who is making $10 million this season in the first season of a four-year extension, returned to the lineup on Friday after being sidelined since April 9 with an abdominal strain.
A two-time All-Star and the most recognizable player on the team, Roberts was extended by the Orioles with the hope that he would act as a veteran leader for a young core that could make a playoff push sometime in the near future.
Perhaps Roberts’ influence was not being embellished by team officials, as Adam Jones, Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters have failed to show much improvement this season without the All-Star around.
But he was back on Friday, and despite and 0-for-4 showing at the plate, Baltimore managed to squeeze past the Twins, 3-2, for its second win in eight games since the All-Star break. Jones plated a run in the first inning with a single and Luke Scott provided the big blow when his two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth put the Orioles on top for good.
Scott is one player who has not regressed in Roberts' absence, batting .288 with 15 homers and an OPS around .900. Scott has been the one constant for the Baltimore offense of late, hitting in eight straight games and homering four times during that span.
Getting the ball for Minnesota on Saturday will be struggling right-hander Scott Baker.
The 28-year-old had been one of the better pitchers in the league the past two seasons, combining for 26 wins with a 3.94 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. But that consistency has abandoned him of late, as Baker has gotten lit up in his past two starts - surrendering 11 runs and 17 hits in 10 2/3 combined innings to suffer back-to-back losses and watch his ERA balloon to over 5.00.
Baker’s strikeout-to-walk ratio of 96-to-22 is still solid, but he has allowed 17 homers already along with 134 hits in 113 2/3 innings.
The Orioles could be just what Baker needs to turn it back around. He had one of his best outings of the seasons against them back on May 8, when he allowed one runs and three hits in eight innings to earn a win. He has never lost to Baltimore in his career, posting a 4-0 mark with a 2.52 mark in six starts.
The Orioles will counter with rookie left-hander Brian Matusz. The 23-year-old is coming off his shortest outing of the season last weekend against the Toronto Blue Jays, when he was pulled after allowing six runs on five hits in 1 2/3 innings. The former first-round pick is 1-10 since April 18 and has gotten rocked for at least six runs five times this season.
One of those times was against the Twins on May 9, when Denard Span drove in three runs and Nick Punto added two RBIs in a 6-0 Minnesota victory. Matusz was lifted after 3 2/3 in that outing and was charged with all six runs on nine hits.