Wrapping up a 3-0 loss

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles put two runners on base in the bottom of the ninth inning today on singles by Ryan Flaherty and Dariel Alvarez, but Paul Janish grounded into a double play to give the Twins a 3-0 victory at Ed Smith Stadium.

The winless streak has reached eight games.

Flaherty, who entered as a pinch-runner and played third base and second base, is 7-for-12 this spring.

Ubaldo Jimenez tossed three scoreless innings to lower his ERA from 162.00 to 16.20.

"Ubaldo was good, crisp," said manager Buck Showalter. "That was a good fastball. Carrying that fastball that early in the year is a good sign, hopefully."

Byron Buxton led off the game with a double, but Jimenez escaped the jam.

"These guys have a lot of pride, and Ubaldo, you could tell he came in last spring and really wanted to do well and had done a lot of things to present himself as such. I think he's carried it over," Showalter said.

"I was talking to Ramon (Martinez) today. He's not his personal pitching coach or anything. He's just someone who helps all the pitchers, including him. I was talking to him about (Jimenez) and he said nothing has changed since he came into camp. He's actually a little lighter, but with the same frame and everything. He's worked hard in the offseason.

"He was one of our most consistent pitchers. You could make the case that he was last year and it's good to see him have a good outing. First guy for us to go three innings, so that's good.

"He's in a good place. I like where he is. He's strong and healthy, knock on wood."

Pedro Beato struck out a batter in a scoreless ninth. He hasn't allowed a run in three appearances covering 3 2/3 innings.

"That's the type of guy you like to bring in as a non-roster guy," Showalter said. "He knows how to pitch. He's a professional. You can tell why he's had a couple good years with the Mets before he got hurt. I know people in Triple-A thought a lot of him, the way he goes about his business. He's pitched well here."

Hyun Soo Kim went 0-for-2, both outs on grounders, and is 0-for-18 this spring.

"I thought Kim hit the ball hard twice today," Showalter said.

Asked whether he says anything to Kim as the hitless streak grows, Showalter replied, "We all do. We have. It's not like we haven't. Yeah, sure. Everybody's trying to make his path easy. He's got to cooperate a little bit. He will. It's tough for him. You try to have some empathy for it, but there's a lot of time. He'll get it going."

Kim ran the count full in his second at-bat before grounding sharply to second base.

"You can tell his reactions when he hits the ball hard and they catch it," Showalter said. "You guys ask him now and then. What do you think the other group of media is asking him every day? It's 3 o'clock in the morning back there. I'm sure they tape the game and watch it during breakfast.

"I try to understand that. But we've got a lot of time. He'll get it going at some point."

Kim is adjusting to more than just life in the U.S. It's a process.

"It's learning every day," Showalter said. "I'm sure there's something that happened in his life here in the States every day that's new to him, all the new things that are going on, but there have been a lot of guys who have gone through that. The thing that allows you to make an easier transition is being able to perform at this level.

"The little added consistency of the fastball velocity is one of the things that you get challenged with and there's a lot of guys, Americans, who have played in the States and the big leagues for a lot of years and at-bats who have that issue, too, so I don't think it's an issue with him. I just think he's cheating a little bit on the fastball, which makes him susceptible to the breaking ball, which is something that he's been good with in the past. When you see that, you know guys are rushing and trying to make it happen quickly."

The wind knocked down a couple of long fly balls that otherwise would have cleared the fence. J.J. Hardy and Manny Machado were robbed by the elements.

"We had two or three balls that probably would have been home runs," Showalter said, "but that's the way it goes."

The Orioles are waiting for the results of T.J. McFarland's X-rays on his left elbow.

Matt Wieters will be behind the plate again on Tuesday, catching on back-to-back days. That would have been a huge story last spring.

"Matt's healthy and throwing well," Showalter said.