Phil Hughes on the mound for the Yanks tonight...OVER?
The Twins offense seems to have found its feet following a stuttering start in their season opening series. Phil Hughes seems to have dropped off after his success in his first couple of seasons, and arm and shoulder injuries last year haven't helped.
Yankees offense has been pretty handy to start the season, scoring 5 runs or more in 9 of 12 games so far.
All 3 games in the series have gone over so far, with both offenses being productive - last night's game was a hit away from going over in the first!
He's back again tonight against the O's in the Bronx.
Interesting stat - since the start of last season, Hughes has given up 41 earned runs in just 43 innings when pitching at home (8.58 ERA )
On the other team, Brian Matusz has given up 4, 5 and 6 earned runs in his last 3 outings against the Yankees dating back to last season. He had a solid start last time out, but prior to that he had allowed 13ER in 14.2 innings over 3 starts to open the season.
10.5 is a high number, but given recent history, is seems fairly achievable.
The Orioles (14-9) are 14-5 against all other opponents, but fell to 0-4 on the season versus New York (13-9) after dropping Monday's series opener 2-1. The Yankees improved to 43-15 against Baltimore since 2009, including a 22-6 mark at home.
Those marks appear likely to grow more lopsided with Matusz (0-3, 5.66 ERA) getting the ball. The left-hander has lost 12 straight decisions, one shy of the Orioles record set by Mike Boddicker from Aug. 1987-May 1998.
It's also the longest losing streak in the majors since Jo-Jo Reyes dropped 13 straight decisions from June 23, 2008-May 25, 2011, with the final defeat coming at Yankee Stadium while he was pitching for Toronto.
Matusz is 0-12 with a 10.47 ERA in 14 starts since beating Oakland last June 6. He's 0-2 in three starts versus the Yankees in that stretch, allowing 15 runs in 10 2-3 innings.
He's 2-5 with a 5.10 ERA in eight career starts versus the Yankees.
edit: wound up with more on ML because DSI hung +165 for me