SARASOTA, FLA. — Someone had to lose to Baltimore before spring training ended. It just happened to be the Twins.
The Orioles jumped all over righthander Trevor May in the first inning and pulled away to a 8-1 victory in Sarasota. The Orioles, despite having All-Stars like Chris Davis, Manny Machado and J.J. Hardy around, were 0-10-2 coming into Saturday's game. Spring training games are meaningless until you go two weeks without a win. And Baltimore nearly had it's Opening Day lineup facing May on Saturday.
May tried to establish his fastball inside on Saturday, but it didn't work. The Orioles loaded the bases in first, Manny Machado scored on a wild pitch and Mark Trumbo delivered a two-run single to but Baltimore ahead 3-1. Machado followed with a RBI double in the second.
May struck out three over 22/3 innings but gave up four hits and three earned runs. He wasn't happy with the results but liked his off-speed pitches and how he battled.
"This is a team full of good hitters," May said. "If you miss by too much, bad things are going to happen."
Baltimore piles on. Audry Perez hit a two-run homer off Michael Tonkin in the sixth and Steve Tolleson hit a two-run homer off of Buddy Boshers in the seventh.
The Twins, 5-6-1 this spring, scored their only run on Carlos Quentin's RBI double in the first.
May is still being stretched out to be a starter, but Twins manager Paul Molitor will likely use him out of the bullpen to start the season because he was so effective there last season in an emergency role. Injuries could alter that plan.
