Baltimore Vs. Detroit
After finishing at the bottom of the AL East each of the last three seasons, the Baltimore Orioles find themselves in an unfamiliar position early in 2011.
Young pitching has helped Baltimore to the top of the division and its first 3-0 start in 14 years, and the Orioles will look for that trend to continue when Jake Arrieta takes the mound in their home opener Monday against the Detroit Tigers.
Following eight shutout innings from veteran Jeremy Guthrie in Friday's season-opening 4-1 win at Tampa Bay, 22-year-old Chris Tillman held the Rays hitless over six innings in Saturday night's 3-1 victory.
Rookie Zach Britton, who made his major league debut in place of the injured Brian Matusz on Sunday, allowed three hits and one run while striking out six in six innings as the Orioles won 5-1 to complete the sweep.
"We've been playing great baseball," Britton said. "I think this is what everyone expected. Hopefully we can carry this into the next series."
While they're hitting just .222 as a team, the Orioles - off to their best start since 1997, when they last made the playoffs - have allowed a total of just 23 baserunners.
"I think it all starts with the pitching, and our pitching has been awesome," said shortstop J.J. Hardy, who had a two-run double Sunday.
Arrieta went 6-6 with a 4.66 ERA over 18 starts as a rookie last season. The right-hander allowed one run and seven hits and struck out four in 6 1-3 innings of the Orioles' 7-5, 11-inning loss July 6 at Detroit.
While Baltimore was able to limit Tampa Bay's bats, it could have its hands full with a Detroit team coming off an offensive outburst.
The Tigers (1-2), who scored a combined nine runs in two losses to open the season, avoided a sweep by defeating the New York Yankees 10-7 on Sunday.
Miguel Cabrera went 3 for 5 with two home runs and four RBIs. Cabrera was 12 for 25 (.480) with two homers and 10 RBIs against the Orioles in 2010.
Outfielder Brennan Boesch also went deep Sunday en route to becoming the first Tiger since Dmitri Young on April 4, 2005, to have at least four hits, four runs and four RBIs in a game.
Detroit's Rick Porcello will take the mound Monday. He went 4-10 with a 5.91 ERA in his first 17 starts last season and spent some time with Triple-A Toledo.
The right-hander, though, went 6-2 with a 3.51 ERA over his final 10 starts. He finished his year Oct. 1 by losing 2-1 to Baltimore, keeping the Tigers in the game despite allowing a career-worst-tying 12 hits over 6 1-3 innings.
Porcello is hoping his second-half success carries over.
"You don't want to put too much pressure on yourself, because it is a team game," Porcello told the Tigers' official website. "But you're the one that's controlling the game, really. If you go out there and you have timely shutdown innings ... you're going to be pretty successful."
Outfielder Magglio Ordonez was held out Sunday due to soreness in his surgically repaired right ankle. His status for Monday is unknown.
"We're just going to wait and see," manager Jim Leyland said. "The weather's supposed to be pretty dicey in Baltimore. We'll see how it feels."
Copyright 2011 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.
