Baltimore Orioles 9, Minnesota Twins 4: Even in spring the Twins are bad

An Orioles lineup made up mostly of backups and hopefuls today put the smack down on the sad sad Minnesota Twins, winning 9-4 and running their Grapefruit League leading record to 11-4. Woo Spring Training!

As already discussed in my post about Brian Matusz, his performance tonight as the starting pitcher was just stellar. He pitched four innings and racked up seven strikeouts, with the remaining five outs coming via the ground ball. He walked one (Josh Willingham) but did not allow a hit.

After Troy Patton pitched an inning where he gave up two singles, Tommy Hunter came into the game. He gave up a long fly ball out to the first batter he faced (I'm not sure if it was really hit deep or if I was just given the Fred Manfra fly ball treatment on the radio) but then settled down and ended up with two perfect innings and three strikeouts.

The O's took a 3-1 lead into the 8th inning when Todd Redmond coughed up the lead thanks to three runs that scored on two home runs hit by two players that you've never heard of. Luckily the backups to the backups came into the 9th inning with their bats on fire and put up a six spot against Josh Roenicke. Oh, Spawn of Gary, what happened? How could you let Niuman Romero and Kyle Hudson get the best of you?

After tonight's satisfying come-from-behind win, the Orioles will face their division rival, the Tampa Bay Rays, tomorrow. The game will be broadcast on MASN and while you're probably tired of ST by now, both Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman are scheduled to pitch. So get ready to swoon.