Yesterday, the Baltimore Orioles demolished the Minnesota Twins, 11-1, in Grapefruit League action.
The story of the day was the pitching of Wei-Yin Chen. Obviously, the Orioles need as much pitching as they can get, and so far Chen has been promising down in Florida during his first MLB Spring Training.
He gave up a run in five innings of work and gave up four hits. He struck out one and didn’t walk anyone.
At this point, it is safe to assume that Chen will be one of the starters when the Orioles kick-off the season on April 6th. Right now, I would also include Tommy Hunter and Jake Arrieta in the rotation. It remains to be seen what will happen with Brian Matusz; however, he has pitched well enough – so far – to earn a rotation spot.
We still don’t know what we’ll get from Chen once the games count and he faces hitters far more difficult; however, his results down in Florida show that he has the stuff to be an effective pitcher in the major leagues.
The Orioles also got plenty of offense on Thursday as Wilson Betemit and Trent Mummey homered. Betemit (who also had three hits), Nick Johnson and Mummey each drove in two runs; meanwhile, Ryan Flaherty had two hits and drove in two. Xavier Avery had three hits.
Finally, does anyone think that Spring Training is way too long? Anyone ready for the season to begin?
