FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Minnesota Twins battered Baltimore starter Brian Matusz with their anticipated opening day lineup, beating the Orioles 5-2 on Wednesday night.
Matusz allowed eight of the 12 batters he faced to reach base, giving up four runs and five hits with three walks. He lasted only 1 1-3 innings before throwing more pitches in a bullpen session in an effort to improve his mechanics.
Twins starter Francisco Liriano struck out nine in three innings, but needed 76 pitches and issued three walks. He gave up four hits and one run, a homer by Orioles outfielder Adam Jones.
Twins right-fielder Michael Cuddyer went 1 for 2 with a walk in his first spring game after having a wart removed from his left food.
Twins first baseman Justin Morneau ended his 0-for-13 start to spring training by hitting a double in the seventh inning. He appears on the road to recovery from a concussion that caused him to miss the last 78 games of last season.
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| Baltimore | Minnesota | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| B.Roberts 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Span cf | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Andino 2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Repko cf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ad.Jones cf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Nishioka 2b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Pie cf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | C.Lambin 2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D.Lee 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Mauer c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| N.Green rf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | D.Lehmann c | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Guerrero dh | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Morneau 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Fox lf-1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | N.Hanson pr-1b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar.Reynolds 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Delm.Young lf | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| M.Hernandez c | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | S.Liddle lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reimold rf-lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kubel dh | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Tatum c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | B.Dinkelman pr-dh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M.Machado ss | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Cuddyer rf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| C.Izturis ss-3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | M.Dolenc pr-rf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Valencia 3b | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |||||
| D.Romero 3b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| A.Casilla ss | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| L.Hughes ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Totals | 33 | 2 | 6 | 2 | Totals | 33 | 5 | 12 | 5 |
| Baltimore | 001 | 010 | 000—2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 130 | 010 | 00x—5 |
DP_Minnesota 1. LOB_Baltimore 8, Minnesota 10. 2B_Fox (7), Morneau (1), Delm.Young (1), Kubel (5), Cuddyer (1). HR_Ad.Jones (4), Guerrero (4). SB_Span (6), M.Dolenc (1).
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ||
| Baltimore | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matusz L,0-2 | 1 | 1-3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| A.Castillo | 2 | 2-3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Rapada | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Ji.Johnson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Riske | 1 | 2-3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| B.Cooney | 1-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Minnesota | |||||||
| Liriano W,1-1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | |
| Slowey | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| K.Waldrop | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Manship | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Dumatrait | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| James S,2-2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
WP_A.Castillo.
Umpires_Home, Sam Holbrook; First, Brian O'Nora; Second, Manny Gonzalez; Third, David Rackley.
A_8,211 (8,100).
