The Baltimore Orioles come to Minnesota for a weekend series after having taken two of three from the Chicago White Sox and getting the kind of all-around play that's been hard to find so far this season.
Meanwhile, the Twins are coming back home after a 4-2 road trip, and three of the wins were in Baltimore last weekend.
So, when the teams meet up in Minnesota on Friday night, the Orioles will see if they can keep finding the timely hitting and good pitching that let them win two in a row versus the White Sox.
The Twins will want to keep building off of their recent success, especially when they played the Orioles last weekend.
Minnesota banged out 11 homers in last Saturday's doubleheader sweep of the Orioles, a big reason the Twins scored victories of 6-5 and 16-7.
In that doubleheader, Eddie Rosario had five hits, three of which were homers. Teammate Jonathan Schoop, a former Oriole, finished with two homers and four hits.
Alex Cobb (0-1, 11.88) goes for the Orioles while Martin Perez (2-0, 5.31) starts for the Twins in the series opener. This is the same matchup from the nightcap of that doubleheader when Cobb allowed nine runs on 10 hits in 2 2/3 innings, including three homers.
Cobb now has a 2-2 record and a 6.75 ERA in five starts against Minnesota.
Perez gave up four runs on six hits through six innings and earned the victory, and the Twins helped him by bashing eight of those homers.
He is 3-4 with a 5.44 ERA in his eight career starts against the Orioles.
The Twins just lost two of three to Houston on the road, the last one being a 7-1 decision Wednesday where veteran Justin Verlander beat them. He held Minnesota to one run in eight innings, that coming on a Jorge Polanco homer.
The Twins called up Kohl Stewart to start that game and then sent him back to Triple-A Rochester after the game.
Home runs were big for the Twins on the trip as they finished with 15 overall and averaged nearly seven runs per game.
"I thought it was a very good trip," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told MLB.com. "Obviously, coming (to Houston), it is a difficult place to play and it's against a good team, but I think our guys battled pretty well ... obviously, we want to win every game, but overall, it was a very, very solid trip."
The Orioles will be hoping for more success against the Twins in Minnesota than they had in Baltimore last weekend.
John Means gave the Orioles another strong start Wednesday, got the win, and might be the team's biggest surprise this season. He developed a strong change-up and uses that in a big way, a major reason he's 3-2 with a 1.74 ERA.
Stevie Wilkerson hit his first career homer in the win. The Orioles were without first baseman Chris Davis in the last game, but manager Brandon Hyde told the media it would be a one-game absence.
"He had to miss (the game)," Hyde said. "He had a personal matter. We had a two-man bench, and we made it through ... he's going to meet us in Minnesota. Everything's good on that front."
The Orioles also made a minor move, trading pitcher Mike Wright to Seattle for a minor-league infielder. Wright had been designated for assignment on Sunday, and the Orioles received Ryne Ogren, who was then assigned to Class A Delmarva.
Copyright © 2019 | TTWN Media Networks LLC