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Pitchers
RHP Ricky Nolasco, Minnesota
2014: 5 GS, 29.2 IP, 6.67 ERA, 13 SO, 9 BB, .347 BAA, 1.753 WHIP
Last start (at Rays): 6 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR
Nolasco has sucked. The Twins gave him about as much money as the Orioles gave Ubaldo Jimenez and is performing equally poorly. He is giving up all of the hits and home runs, isn't striking anyone out, and through five starts his numbers are basically complete garbage. There's no easy velocity drop to explain his decline, either, although there is the jump from the National League to the American League. Imagine that, a decent NL pitcher comes to the AL and looks terrible. That's never happened before.
Anyway, the Orioles are going to get no-hit tonight.
RHP Ubaldo Jimenez, Orioles
2014: 5 GS, 27.1 IP, 6.59 ERA, 21 SO, 17 BB, .300 BAA, 1.829 WHIP
Last start (vs. Royals): 6 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 SO
How do you walk 17 guys in 27 innings? That is quite a mystery. Not that Jimenez is looking good aside from the walks. A 10.9 hits per nine innings isn't good either, probably because people know they can just wait for when Jimenez has to throw a strike and then take a cut at it. It's bad, he's bad, and he's guaranteed $50 million from the Orioles. All that O's fans can do is hope that now that it isn't April any more he'll start to suddenly be better than he has been so far. Otherwise his starts will continue to be uncomfortable and un-fun to watch.
Lineups
Orioles (w/ career stats vs. Nolasco)
| RF Nick Markakis (L) | 0-10, 3 K |
| 3B Manny Machado (R) | none |
| LF Nelson Cruz (R) | none |
| CF Adam Jones (R) | 1-3, HR |
| C Matt Wieters (S) | 2-5, BB |
| SS J.J. Hardy (R) | 1-4, 3B |
| DH Delmon Young (R) | 2-6, 2 2B |
| 1B Steve Pearce (R) | 0-2 |
| 2B Jonathan Schoop (R) | none |
No one has faced Nolasco enough that it's worth making any real pronouncements based on that kind of history. In general against right-handed pitching, the Orioles are batting .278/.326/.410, which is good for 7th in the AL in OPS.
Twins (w/ career stats vs. Jimenez)
| 2B Brian Dozier (R) | 3-8, BB |
| 1B Joe Mauer (L) | 1-8 |
| 3B Trevor Plouffe (R) | 0-8, BB |
| RF Chris Colabello (R) | none |
| LF Jason Kubel (L) | 1-5 |
| DH Josmil Pinto (R) | none |
| C Kurt Suzuki (R) | 1-2, HR, BB |
| CF Sam Fuld (R) | 0-1 |
| SS Eduardo Escobar (S) | none |
Much like for the O's against Nolasco, there's not much to be gleaned from a handful of plate appearances. The Twins against right-handed pitching have been batting .255/.355/.394. Their home split is not very good: .232/.336/.358. One thing we can see is that the Twins are a team that will take a few walks, and Jimenez, well... you know.