O's game blog: Ubaldo Jimenez makes his second O's start

Ubaldo Jimenez (0-1, 6.00 ERA) faces Hiroki Kuroda (0-1, 3.00 ERA) in a matchup of right-handers today as the Orioles play in New York for the Yankees' home opener.

Jimenez is 1-3 with a 6.45 ERA in four career starts against New York. He gave up two-run homers to David Ortiz and Mike Napoli on Wednesday against Boston in his O's debut. That snapped a streak of 13 straight starts allowing three or fewer earned runs from last season for Jimenez.

Kuroda faced the Orioles four times last year, going 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA. He did not allow a run over 16 innings and two starts in New York against the Orioles.

Kuroda was struggling late last season. In 10 starts last August and September, he went 1-7 with a 5.40 ERA.

A few other notes:

* The Orioles went 9-9 against the Yankees in 2012 and 9-10 last season. That followed three seasons with identical 5-13 records versus the Yankees.

* The Orioles have scored just 20 runs in the season's first six games. Their team batting average is now .229, which is actually a season high. Their OBP is .274 and they have a .343 slugging percentage.

* In an early-season statistical quirk, the Orioles right now have more triples (four) than homers (three). They hit at least one triple in each game of the series at Detroit.

* The Orioles went 6-for-29 (.207) with runners in scoring position at Comerica Park after going 3-for-10 (.300) in the opening series with Boston.

* New York is 14-2 in home openers since 1998 and 19-3 since 1992.

Reimold to 60-day DL: The Orioles acquired pitcher Preston Guilmet today from Cleveland in exchange for minor league outfielder Torsten Boss and then optioned Guilmet to Triple-A Norfolk. Read more on that here.

The Orioles moved outfielder Nolan Reimold to the 60-day DL to make 40-man room for Guilmet. That has to be a big disappointment for Reimold, who was hoping to make the opening day roster. He just has not so far been able to overcome the two neck surgeries.

Ubaldo's pitch count: Jimenez has shown more nasty stuff at times today, but he also walked three batters the first time through the lineup and trails 1-0 after three innings.

Jimenez was tied for third in the American League in walks last season and that is one reason he averaged 17.3 pitches per inning last year, among the most of any AL starter. Today, he threw 13 pitches in the first, 19 in the second and 18 in the third. That is right about on his average from 2013.

Meanwhile early on, O's hitters have gotten behind in some counts and chased some Kuroda split-finger fastballs. We'll see if they get into some better counts as this game goes on.

Bowie news: The Baysox are off to a 4-0 start to the season after sweeping Harrisburg at home. It's the best start to a season for the Baysox franchise since the 1997 season team began 5-0.The team record is a 6-0 start to the 1997 season. Bowie has scored 35 runs so far and 12 have come in the first inning. They've scored in the first inning in every game.

This stat isn't good: Chris Tillman has an ERA of 1.35 over his two starts. After Jimenez allowed four runs today, the O's starters have pitched to an ERA of 8.76 in the other five games. If the O's don't come from behind today, they will be 2-0 when Tillman starts and 0-5 when anyone else does.