BALTIMORE ORIOLES GAME NOTES Oriole Park at Camden Yards 333 West Camden Street Baltimore, MD 21201 Friday, May 2, 2014 Game #27 Road Game #14 Baltimore Orioles (14-12) vs. Minnesota Twins (12-14) RH Ubaldo Jimenez (0-4, 6.59) vs. RH Ricky Nolasco (2-2, 6.67) TONIGHT’S GAME: The Orioles and Twins meet in the opener of a three-game set and the first game of a ODDS & ENDS seven-day, six-game road trip for the Birds…The Orioles will head to Tampa Bay for three games Tuesday Home 7-6 through Thursday following a day off on Monday…The Orioles went 3-2 on their recently completed homestand Away 7-6 against Kansas City (1-2) and Pittsburgh (2-0). Day 6-6 Night 8-6 VS. MINNESOTA: In 2013, the clubs split the season series, 3-3, with the visiting club in each series taking two vs. LHP 1-3 of three…The Orioles lead the all-time series, 320-273 (169-127 in Baltimore and 151-146 in vs. RHP 13-9 Minneapolis)…Since April 19, 2011, the Orioles are 14-6 against the Twins, including a 6-3 mark at home and a Series Record 4-4-1 8-3 mark in Minneapolis…The Orioles are 10-5 at Target Field since it opened in 2010. First game of series 4-5 Last game of a series 6-3 13 AND COUNTING: Since the start of the 2012 season, Adam Jones has hit in all 13 games against the Twins, Last 10 games 6-4 batting .411 (23-56) with five doubles, a triple, four homers, 12 runs scored and 13 RBI…At Target Field since the start of 2012, he is 12-for-32 (.375) with two doubles, a triple, three homers and seven RBI. Win/Loss streak W2 Longest win streak 3 (4/14-18) Longest losing streak 4 (4/2-5) NICK THE STICK: Nick Markakis recorded multi-hit games in all six meetings with the Twins last year, going Most games over .500 2 (last 14-12) 14-for-26 (.538) with four doubles…Since the start of the 2012 season, is batting .519 (27-52) with four doubles, a Most games under .500 3 (last 2-5) triple, two homers and eight RBI in 13 games against the Twins…He has 10 multi-hit games in those 13 contests…Markakis homered in both games Thursday, marking the first time he has homered in consecutive Extra innings 3-0 games since May 22-23, 2013 and the 12th time in his career…He has never homered in three straight games… Shutouts 1-2 Since April 16, he has hit safely in 12 of 13 games, including seven multi-hit efforts…He is batting .373 (19-51) One-run games 6-3 Two-run games 2-3 with 10 walks, three doubles, two homers and seven RBI over that span. Lead after 7 innings 10-0 BUSY DAY: Orioles closer Tommy Hunter recorded his seventh save of the year in game one of Thursday’s Tied after 7 innings 4-2 doubleheader before notching his first victory in the nightcap…According to Elias, he is the first Oriole to Trail after 7 innings 0-10 accomplish the feat since Jorge Julio on August 3, 2004 against Seattle...The last major leaguer to claim a win Lead after 8 innings 11-0 and save in the same day was Philadelphia’s Jonathan Papelbon on September 9, 2012 against Tied after 8 innings 3-1 Trail after 8 innings 0-11 Colorado…According to baseball-reference.com, Hunter was the first to do it facing three or fewer batters since Minnesota’s Ray Corbin on July 26, 1973 against Oakland. Orioles score first 12-5 Opponent scores first 3-7 BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: Matt Wieters hit the third walk-off home run of his career Thursday night in Score four or more runs 9-3 game two…His other walk-off blasts came September 16, 2009 off Tampa Bay’s Russ Springer and April 18, Score fewer than four runs 5-9 2013 off Tampa Bay’s Brandon Gomes…His last two walk-off homers came in the 10th inning…Over his last six Orioles homer 8-5 games (since April 20), Wieters has five multi-hit games and is batting .393 (11-28) with two doubles, two homers Outhit opponents 8-2 and seven RBI. Equal hit total 2-1 Outhit by opponents 4-9 ROAD WARRIORS: The Orioles have won seven of their last 11 road games, but are just 1-3 in road series Most hits in a game 20 (4/8) openers…The Birds are 4-2 in road night games (3-4 in road day games). Fewest hits in a game 5 (last 4/27) RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY: On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Orioles had consecutive games postponed by rain No errors 13-5 for the first time since April 13-14, 2004 at Boston…The Birds sat through a 20 minute rain delay during game With one error 1-5 With two errors 0-1 one of Thursday’s doubleheader before waiting through a 50-minute delay before starting game two. With three or more errors 0-1 AWESOME APRIL: Nelson Cruz has 24 RBI in 24 games played in April, marking the first time in his career vs. AL 12-12 he has posted 20 or more RBI in April…It is the fifth time in his career he has driven in 20+ runs in a month as he vs. AL East 10-8 also accomplished the feat in June of 2013 (22), May of 2012 (23), July of 2011 (26) and September of 2008 vs. AL Central 2-4 (23)…Miguel Tejada holds the club record for RBI in April with 31 in 2005…Cruz’s six homers in April are the vs. AL West 0-0 vs. NL 2-0 tied for third-most in a month in his career: seven times, April of 2010 and 2011 and six times, April of 2013 and 2009…Cruz also homered on Opening Day, March 31. Largest home crowd *46,685 (3/31) Largest road crowd *48,142 (4/07) RBI GUY: Nelson Cruz has recorded six multi-RBI games in his last 12 contests and ranks third in the American League with 25 RBI this season…He now has seven multi-RBI games, as many as the next two highest Orioles’ LAST HOMESTAND totals combined (Matt Wieters-four and Chris Davis-three)…For the year, there have been 25 multi-RBI games Record 3-2 by Orioles batters, of which Cruz has seven (28.0%). Team Average .241 (41-170) E’s = L’s: The Orioles are 13-5 in games in which they do not make an error and 1-7 when making at least one Runs per Game 3.4 (17R/5G) defensive miscue…The Birds have made at least one error in each of their last five losses. Fielding Errors 3 MAY 24 GAME TIME: The O’s have announced that the May 24 game vs. Cleveland will begin at 12:35 p.m. Team ERA 4.02 (47.0IP, 21ER) CLIMBING THE CHARTS: On Thursday, Nick Markakis recorded the 1,403rd hit of his career, tying Al Starters W-L 1-2 Bumbry for ninth place on the Orioles’ all-time hits list…Markakis has 438 extra-base hits in his career and Starters ERA 4.03 (29.0IP, 13ER) trails Paul Blair (446) for seventh place on the list. Bullpen W-L-S 2-0-1 Bullpen ERA 4.00 (18.0IP, 8ER) MATT’S BAT: Among American League catchers, Matt Wieters leads in batting average (.342), slugging Saves/Opps 1/1 percentage (.582), is tied for first in home runs (five), is second in RBI (17) and on-base percentage (.372), and third in hits (27). Best homestand 3-2 (4/11-16) Worst homestand 1-2 (3/31-4/3) DON’T. RUN. EVER.: The Orioles and Twins lead the major leagues with eight outfield assists…The Birds have Best road trip 4-3 (4/18-24) cut down five runners at second base, one at third and two at home…David Lough leads the club with three Worst road trip 3-3 (4/4-9) assists, while Delmon Young and Nick Markakis have two each, and Adam Jones has one. CLOSE CALLS: The Orioles have had 14 of their first 26 games decided by one (6-3) or two (2-3) runs…In 2013, the Orioles had 82 of their 162 games decided by one (20-31) or two runs (20-11). WORTH THE WAIT: The Orioles have won their first three extra innings games of the year…The Birds were 8-7 in extra innings in 2013 after going 16-2 in 2012…Since the start of the 2012 season, the Birds are 27-9 in extra innings contests…In games that have gone 12 or more innings since the start of 2012, the Orioles are 12-3 (13-3 including the 2012 postseason). TOMORROW’S STARTING PITCHER: LH Wei-Yin Chen will make his sixth start of the season, and third on the road…In his two road starts in 2014, Chen is 2-0 with a 6.30 ERA (10.0IP, 7ER) with his wins coming at New York and Boston…In his two career starts against the Twins (both at Target Field), Chen is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA (12.0IP, 3ER) and has walked just one batter while striking out eight…Has not allowed a homer against Minnesota…Left his last start against the Twins (May 12, 2013) after five scoreless innings with a right oblique strain that landed him on the 15-day disabled list.