Baltimore Orioles crush Minnesota Twins 9-4 – MLB Spring Training
Baltimore Orioles continued their excellent winning streak as they defeated the Minnesota Twins 9-4 at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Florida on Wednesday, March 13 in an important Grape Fruit League encounter of the 2013 Spring Training.
Credit must be given to the pitching rotation that created all sorts of problems for Minnesota’s batting line-up in hitting friendly conditions. Manager Buck Showalter will be proud of his team’s performance. Orioles started the Spring Training on a very
slow note but the pieces of the puzzle have come together in the last few games; a very good sign for one of the favourites to win the American League East Division title this year.
"My mindset was to attack the zone with authority and come out there and just play the game and pitch," Matsuz said. "Just build enough confidence. Just keep building, building and stay strong all the way through."
"He's one of the best hitters in the league for a reason," Matusz said. "He just keeps fighting. I felt like I was making good pitches. He was just putting good swings on it. That last pitch, I just said, I'm going to bury a slider here.' He's such a good
hitter, he still put good wood on it. With those tough hitters, you've just got to bear down and throw strikes."
Baltimore Orioles dominated the American League Central Division last season. The New York Yankees gave them a tough time but when it mattered the most the Orioles lifted their game play significantly to reach the playoffs. With more depth and variety in
both their batting line-up and pitching rotation, the Orioles are looking more dangerous than ever before. It will be interesting to see if Buck Showalter and his men can carry over this momentum into the regular season to finally win the World Series title
after almost three decades.
Twins put up a great fight to their credit but the night belonged to the Orioles who held their nerves under pressure to secure another superb victory. Orioles’ starting pitcher Brian Matusz posted another solid performance as he tossed four scoreless and
hitless innings. It will not be wrong to say that he completely outpitched his counterpart from the Twins. The Orioles will be looking to carry their winning momentum in to the regular season.
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