Twins continue to slump versus AL East

Rain falls before a baseball game between the Minnesota Twins and the Baltimore Orioles, Thursday, August 20, 2015, in Baltimore. Baltimore starter Miguel Gonzalez hasn’t won a game since July and he’s only notched two quality starts in his last eleven trips to the hill. It’s worth noting that following every previous time the Twins were swept in a series on the road this year, they’ve bounced back with a win in their next game. Trevor Plouffe (.249, 57 Rs, 18 HRs, 66 RBIs, 2 SBs) went 1 for 4 yesterday with one RBI.

Minnesota swept their three-game set with Baltimore last month. The Over/Under (O/U) for the matchup is eight runs. They are 5-1 as the favorite over their last 10 games. At one point the young right-hander retired 12 straight. As for the pitching staff, the Orioles don’t give up many walks to opposing batters at Camden Yards, ranking second in the AL with only 2.3 walks allowed per home game. I’m not anticipating an “A” level effort tonight either, leaving the door open for the slumping Twins to get back on track. The Twins are a stumbling team that the Orioles need to beat.

You probably don’t think about the Twins except when the Orioles play them, and you very likely have never heard of Tyler Duffey before right this second. They sport a 38-41 record against righties. Two of those wins came on game-ending homers and Henry Urrutia delivered a third in Wednesday’s 5-4 victory over the New York Mets. The Twins have been shut out in seven games this season. I’m not expecting Baltimore to score runs in bunches here, even with Twins closer Glen Perkins unavailable tonight.

When they are outhit, the Twins are 10-53.

It was the first of three hits on the night for Suzuki.

Baltimore was eager to return home after losing five of nine on the West Coast and promptly continued its success at Camden Yards with a four-game sweep of Oakland.

Ranking 21st, Minnesota is near the bottom of the league for its on-base plus slugging percentage (.701). They have homered at least once in all of those games, hitting 27 total.