The Orioles have taken the first two games of the series against the Twins and look to secure their second series win of the year tonight, and they send Kevin Millwood to the mound for the effort. Historically, Kevin Millwood has not been very good against the Twins. In 12 career starts, Millwood is 0-7 with a 5.90 ERA and a 1.762 WHIP. The Twins have knocked him around for a hitting line of .328/.386/.507. Eh, that's cool. They all faced Millwood before he manned up and became The Mentor.
Scott Baker pitches for the Twins tonight. Baker hasn't been as bad as it looks on the surface. He's made six starts on the year, three of which have been good and three of which have been bad. Overall he's not walked a lot of guys or given up a lot of home runs, but the hits are falling in against him to the tune of a .346 BABIP.
Adam Jones has finally been dropped to the bottom third of the lineup, thank goodness. Of course, the cost of that is having another batter with a .256 OBP at leadoff, so it's not as though the team is really gaining anything but the hot hand (insert inappropriate domestic abuse joke here).
| Orioles | Twins |
|---|---|
| Backup SS - SS | Denard Span - CF |
| Nick Markakis - RF | Orlando Hudson - 2B |
| Matt Wieters - DH | Justin Morneau - 1B |
| Miguel Tejada - 3B | Jim Thome - DH |
| Ty Wigginton - 2B | Michael Cuddyer - RF |
| Luke Scott - LF | Delmon Young - LF |
| Adam Jones - CF | Nick Punto - 3B |
| Rhyne Hughes - 1B | Alexi Casilla - SS |
| Craig Tatum - C | Drew Butera - C |