The Orioles will host the Twins this week in a three-game series. Minnesota seems to be playing above its head right now and will likely be the underdog in this series. While Baltimore may not be as good as its 25-17 record suggests, the lineup is heating up and the team can stay in contention as long as its starting rotation remains solid.
This series will be contested from Monday, May 22 through Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland.
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Pitching Matchups
The Twins are slated to send Kyle Gibson to the mound on Monday. He is 0-4 with an 8.20 ERA on the season and 1.97 WHIP. Gibson has just 16 strikeouts against 13 walks in 26 innings pitched and may be in danger of a demotion if he has another bad performance. The Orioles will counter with someone who hasn’t done much better. Ubaldo Jimenez is 1-2 on the season with a 6.52 ERA. He has 23 walks in 38.2 innings and has to have better control to have success moving forward.
On Tuesday, each team sends out its best pitcher. The Twins are scheduled to start Ervin Santana, who is 6-2 on the year with a sparkling 2.07 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP. Santana has a career ERA of 4.04 but he has been really good this season, although his peripheral numbers may warn of some regression since Santana isn’t striking out a ton of batters and doesn’t have pinpoint control. The Orioles will counter with Dylan Bundy, who is 5-2 with a 2.97 ERA. Like Santana, Bundy has some advanced metrics that suggest regression, although he does have the pedigree of a former top draft pick.
The series finale will feature Minnesota phenom Jose Berrios taking the hill. He has won both of his starts since being called up and has only allowed one earned run and four hits in 15.1 innings. Berrios has impressive stuff and will aim to flummox the strong Baltimore lineup. The Orioles will send out Chris Tillman, who is 1-0 with a 3.52 ERA in three starts on the season. He is a solid veteran who should be able to give the Orioles a nice outing.
Scheduling Situation
Monday’s matchup won’t be the easiest game for the Twins to play. They had to get through a doubleheader at home against Kansas City on Sunday after Saturday’s game was rained out. After splitting those, they got on a plane for Baltimore and now have to play the next day.
The Twins are coming off a long homestand, which helps them, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see fatigue be an issue in this one. There figure to be a lot of runs in the Monday matchup since both starters are below average, so all of the Twins batters would be happy to play, although the coaching staff may choose to rest a player or two who saw action in both games of Sunday’s doubleheader. Check out the lineup before wagering on this matchup.
Orioles Bats Cold Early
Baltimore has an intimidating middle of the lineup which features Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo. All are established veterans but they are off to a slow start. Machado is a superstar but is only batting .221 with 10 homers and 24 RBIs. Jones is hitting .276 but he only has a .748 OPS as he isn’t slugging as well as usual.
Trumbo is batting .270 but only has six homers and a .408 slugging percentage. Davis has been the best of the bunch as he’s been hot lately. The hulking slugger is batting .248 with nine homers, 17 RBIs and an .841 OPS.
None of Baltimore’s big bats have fully woken up yet, which is good news for an Orioles team which has one of the better records in the American League thus far and should see an offensive improvement.
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