The Orioles continue to play a series of low-scoring close games at Oriole Park, with the new wall dimensions this year no doubt contributing greatly to that. Last night the teams combined for just three runs on 11 hits as the Twins beat the Orioles 2-1 to start a four-game series.

The Orioles went 2-4 versus the Twins last year and have now lost 17 of 20 to Minnesota since 2018. The Birds are 14-33 against the Twins since 2014.

The Orioles (8-15) scored nine runs – a season-high – in winning Sunday against the Red Sox. But they have scored just one, two and one run in the other three games around that one recently. So the offense remains remarkably inconsistent. This series the offense is matched up against a pitching staff that ranks second in the American League and fifth in the majors with a team ERA of 3.06. The Twins' rotation ERA of 2.58 is first in the AL and second in the majors.

The Twins (14-9) lead the AL Central by 3 ½ games over the Guardians and by 4 ½ games over the White Sox. Minnesota began the year going 4-8 but have now won 10 of 11 games, allowing just 23 runs in that span. In those 11 games, the Twins have a plus-33 run differential.

Tonight’s game features a marquee pitching matchup between two somewhat unheralded pitchers that have put up excellent numbers to begin the 2022 season. It’s O’s left-hander Bruce Zimmermann (1-1, 0.93 ERA) against Twins right-hander Joe Ryan (3-1, 1.17 ERA).

After last night’s 2-1 win in 10 innings over Boston on a throwing error by the Red Sox, the Orioles and Sox have split the first two games of this series. They have scored seven runs combined in the games.

Today, the Orioles (7-14) host Boston (9-13) in the rubber game in the series. A win would give the Orioles their third series victory of 2022 and they are 1-1 in rubber games.

Last night was the club’s second walk-off win of the season and they are now 2-0 in extra-inning games. They are 4-4 at home and 3-8 versus the American League East, and the win ended a five-game losing streak for the Orioles.

They continue to play a lot of close games, with 13 of the 21 decided by two runs or less. Baltimore is 4-4 in one-run games and 1-4 in two-run games.

The Orioles are moving into what looks like a bit of a softer spot in their schedule. The combined records of the teams they played in their first six series – the Rays, Brewers, Yankees, Oakland and Angels – is 66-41 through Saturday, for a win percentage of .617. The combined records of the teams they play the next five series starting with this one – the Red Sox, Twins, Royals, Cardinals and Tigers – is 46-54 for a win percentage of .460.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Orioles three-city road trip has advanced to city No. 2. They are in Anaheim tonight to start a three-game weekend series with the Angels.

The Orioles (4-9) started this trip losing three of four in Oakland and lost 6-4 on Thursday afternoon. Austin Hays drove in two runs with a double and a single, Rougned Odor added an RBI single, and Ryan McKenna added a sac fly.

It was yet another close game for the Orioles, who are 2-6 in games decided by two runs or less, going 1-3 in both one- and two-run games. The O’s offense has produced just 28 runs (2.15 per game) and they’ve scored two or less nine times.

The Angels (8-5) are in first place in the American League West as this series begins. They lead Oakland by a half-game, are one game ahead of Seattle and 1 ½ up on Houston. They won the last two games of a series with Houston that ended Wednesday by 7-2 and 6-0 scores. The Angels have won five of six and seven of their last nine games.

Their offense has been real strong, averaging 5.0 runs per game, and the Angels have 16 homers, tied for the AL lead. They also lead the league in steals with 11 but also lead by a big margin in caught stealing with eight. The Angels rank third in the AL in batting (.253), and second in on-base percentage (.333), slugging (.423) and OPS (.756).

OAKLAND – The Orioles have scored just one run in each game of this series at the Oakland Coliseum. But they won by 1-0 yesterday. They are hoping they don’t have to pitch a shutout to win today.

But of the Orioles' four wins this year – and they are 4-8 – three have come via a shutout. They have pitched two shutouts in their last four games and three in the last nine.

Five pitchers combined on a seven-hitter with one walk and 11 strikeouts in Wednesday’s win. It was started by Jordan Lyles, who gave up five hits over five innings. It was ended by Jorge López, who recorded a five-out save for his second save this year and third of his career.López threw 19 pitches, touching 99 mph on the radar gun. 

The Orioles are one of seven major league teams with more than one shutout:

* Three shutouts – Orioles, Mets
* Two shutouts – Royals, Angels, Yankees, Padres, Cardinals

OAKLAND – The Orioles begin their second road trip of the 2022 season tonight a long way from home and it’s the first trip featuring multiple series. The Orioles (3-6) play at Oakland (5-5) to start a four-game series and 10-game trip that also takes them to Anaheim to play the Angels and to New York to once again face the Yankees.

The Orioles' 5-0 win Sunday gave the team its first series victory of the year and first at home over the Yankees since Sept. 4-6, 2020, when they took three of four.

The Orioles pitching staff, which posted an ERA of 5.84 to rank last in the majors in 2021, is off to a stunning start that included allowing just six runs in the Yankees series and pitching the club’s second shutout of the year. The only three teams in the majors with more than one shutout already are the Orioles and Yankees with two each and the Mets, who have three.

More pitching notes:

* O’s team ERA is 3.04 (second in AL, fifth in MLB)

It is a marquee pitching matchup to wrap up the Brewers-Orioles series tonight as O’s lefty John Means (0-0, 2.25 ERA) faces Milwaukee right-hander Corbin Burnes (0-0, 5.40 ERA) at Camden Yards. Tonight’s winner takes the series after Baltimore’s 2-0 win Monday and Milwaukee’s 5-4 victory last night.

Burnes won the 2021 National League Cy Young Award in a close vote over the Phillies' Zach Wheeler and Max Scherzer, who was with the Nationals and Dodgers last year. In the final vote tally, Burnes came up with 151 points to 141 for Wheeler and 113 for Scherzer. The 10-point margin of victory was the closest in the NL and tied for the fourth-closest overall since the ballot expanded from three to five pitchers in 2010. The closest in the American League was in 2012, when the Rays’ David Price outpointed the Tigers’ Justin Verlander 153-149.

Some Orioles fans will certainly remember that the closest election in the AL before that occurred in 1969 with the only tie in Cy Young Award balloting, between the O’s Mike Cuellar and the Tigers’ Denny McLain, the last year when voters could select only one pitcher.

Burnes is the first Brewers pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in the NL. The only other Cy Young Award winners for the Brewers, Rollie Fingers in 1981 and Pete Vuckovich in 1982, did so in the AL. The Brewers moved to the NL in 1998.

Burnes went 11-5 with an ERA of 2.43, best in the NL, in winning the award. Over 167 innings, he recorded a WHIP of 0.94, allowed just 6.6 hits per nine and only seven homers for a homer rate of 0.4. In 2021, he recorded 58 strikeouts before issuing his first walk on May 13. The Brewers went 19-9 in his starts.

With four days left before opening night, the Orioles will play their only home exhibition game tonight at Oriole Park. The Orioles (1-0) host the Washington Nationals (0-1). The same clubs meet at Nats Park on Tuesday night. The Orioles beat the Phillies 5-1 in game that went 9 1/2 innings last night at Citizens Bank Park. Pedro Severino, Cedric Mullins, Pat Valaika and Ryan Mountcastle hit solo homers for the Orioles and Hanser Alberto added an RBI single. Right-hander Thomas Eshelman pitched...

Jordan Zimmermann is 0-2 with a 4.25 ERA in five starts since the All-Star break. That stretch began with an abbreviated four-inning outing against the Dodgers, which was interrupted by a power outage at Nationals Park on July 17. After a lengthy delay, Zimmermann wasn't able to continue. He gave up two runs on a homer to Adrian Gonzalez before the lights went out. Despite the rough patch, Zimmermann was much sharper in his last start, limiting the Rockies to one run on four hits with no walks...