Minnesota @ Baltimore preview
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Last Meeting ( Apr 5, 2013 ) Minnesota 5, Baltimore 9
Chris Davis has opened the season with a Ruthian display of power, putting up numbers through four games that most players would sign up for in a month. Davis will look to continue his home run spree when the Baltimore Orioles host the Minnesota Twins on Saturday in the second of a three-game series. Davis' eighth-inning grand slam accounted for the deciding runs in Friday's 9-5 win, giving him four homers and 16 RBIs.
Minnesota is trying to avoid a repeat of a year ago, when it lost three straight in Baltimore to start the season. Brian Dozier had his second career three-RBI game Friday with a two-run triple and an RBI single. Highly-touted prospect Aaron Hicks, who won the starting center field job in spring training, is off to a tough start. He went hitless in five at-bats Friday and is 1-for-17 with eight strikeouts.
TV: 7:05 p.m., Fox Sports North (Minnesota), MASN (Washington)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Twins RH Vance Worley (0-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Orioles RH Chris Tillman (2012: 9-3, 2.93)
Worley appeared to be in for an abbreviated outing in his American League debut, but he rebounded from a shaky start to finish his six-inning stint with four scoreless frames in a 4-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Opening Day. Worley faced the Orioles in Baltimore last June as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. He went six innings, allowing three unearned runs on four hits and struck out five, but did not factor in the decision.
Tillman had his preseason cut short by an abdominal strain. He will be activated off the 15-day disabled list to make Saturday's start. Tillman has lost all three of his starts against Minnesota and had the shortest outing of his career against the Twins last season, lasting only two-thirds of an inning and getting shellacked for seven runs on five hits. He went 4-1 in his last seven starts last year, allowing a total of 11 runs.
WALK-OFFS
1. Davis, who has 11 homers in his last 11 games, is one of four players to homer in the first four games of the season and his 16 RBIs are the most in history through the opening four.
2. The Twins are seeking their first victory in Baltimore in nearly two years, with the last win coming on April 21, 2011.
3. Davis also had at least three RBIs in all four games. Only two players - Lou Gehrig (1931) and Bill Dickey (1937) - have ever homered and driven in at least five runs in five straight games.
PREDICTION: Orioles 6, Twins 3