As he tries to prove he's a better pitcher than the one that carried a 6.20 ERA last year, Orioles right-hander Jake Arrieta is going to need to limit the big inning better than he was able to today in the top of the fourth.
The Twins scored four times - on two singles, a double, a triple and a walk - to take a 4-1 lead.
Arrieta had allowed just two hits on 47 pitches over the first three innings, but the Twins broke through in the fourth. Brian Dozier's two-run triple keyed the inning as his drive to right landed just out of the reach of Nick Markakis. I'm not sure if Markakis got a late jump, but he just missed catching that ball.
Some other notes:
* Manny Machado's RBI single in the third was his first RBI of the year and moved him to within 10 of Chris Davis. But then Davis added another RBI in the fifth, as the O's tied the game at 4-4 and chased Liam Hendriks. Manny is back to 11 behind.
* Since April 19, 2011, the Orioles are 11-3 against the Twins, including a 5-1 mark at home. The O's won the season series, five games to two, last year.
* Coming into today, Chris Davis was batting .444 with 10 homers, 24 RBIs and an OPS of 1.861 OPS over his past 10 regular season games. He has homered in nine of those games.
* When Davis grounded out in the second today, it was the first time this year he made an out against a right-handed pitcher. He entered 6-for-6 with two homers and eight RBIs. He got right back to the hitting when he blooped a single to left in the fourth to go 1-for-2 on the day, making him 8-for-13 (.615) on the year.
* The Orioles are 39-20 all time in home openers, winning two in a row and 10 of their last 12.
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