Twins 5, Orioles 0: Getting the losses out of the way early

Brian Matusz pitched 2.2 innings, giving up 2 runs on 2 hits. He didn't walk anyone and struck out an amazing 6 batters. He got into some trouble in the first inning when he allowed two doubles and a single that resulted in the two runs. After Jason Kubel's double to drive in the second run Matusz didn't allow another batter to get on base.

Following Matusz were Ross Wolf, Mike Gonzalez, Jim Johnson, Koji Uehara, Josh Perreault, Mike Hinkley, Frank Mata, and Wilfredo Perez. Gonzalez didn't fare too well, giving up two hits and a walk. He didn't surrender a run though, thanks to a nice relay from Adam Jones to Cesar Izturis to Luke Scott to Craig Tatum that nailed Brendan Harris at the plate. JJ also had some troubles, allowing a run on a couple of hits. He did strike out two. Koji breezed through another inning, as did Wilfredo Perez. I'm starting to get kind of excited about him. Mike Hinkley had another bad outing, the poor kid. He lasted 0.2 innings and gave up another two runs.

As the score indicates, the offense was pretty much non-existent today. Starter Kevin Slowey pitched three innings and only Felix Pie managed a hit off of him, a leadoff single. In fact the O's had just three hits on the day, all singles (Jonathan Tucker and Matt Wieters had the others).

It's worth noting that Luke Scott got the start at 1B today, so after declaring first off limits to him in the offseason, something changed Dave Trembley's mind. I'm guessing that change might have something to do with Nolan Reimold's heel. It really hasn't been talked about much this spring but Reimold has been practically MIA. His only game action was on Saturday when he got two at-bats as the DH. If his heel continues to give him trouble and relegates him to the DH for the first part of the year we might get to see Scott sharing time with Atkins at 1B. That's just speculation, of course, but it does make sense. Reimold is scheduled to play tomorrow so we'll see how it goes.

One more game in the books and Opening Day is just 29 days away. Tomorrow the Rays come to town for their third game against the Orioles. Chris Tillman gets the start for the O's.