SARASOTA, FLA. - Francisco Liriano was a mess on Wednesday. When he wasn't spinning around on the mound from trying to throw too hard, he was spinning around to see where his pitches were being hit.
"My slider was moving like a cutter," he said. "My changeup was coming up. My fastball was all over."
Liriano, who began spring training a little behind the other starters because of shoulder tendinitis, looks as if he'll need all of spring training to get his mechanics in order.
On Wednesday, he gave up five earned runs over 12/3 innings and set the tone for bad pitching as the Twins were blasted 11-2 by the Orioles.
Baltimore led 6-1 after two innings and kept pouring it on. Vladimir Guerrero homered off Alex Burnett. Adam Jones' homer off Jim Hoey cleared the seats in left. Ryan Adams' homer off Chuck James cleared the seats and the concession stand in left.
Technically, it was Liriano's first official outing of spring, but it comes after a rough outing during a B game against Tampa Bay last week.
"He was flying [open] all over the place; he needs to slow down," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.
"Even in the second inning he got two quick outs, then all of a sudden he threw two pitches and was flying completely with his back to home plate.
