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The Baltimore Orioles head to Minnesota to face the Twins in a four-game set starting on Monday, and they are starting to get desperate for wins. Baltimore was leading the AL East for quite a while before the All-Star Break, but bad form has sunk them down to second place, and losses are starting to pile up at an alarming rate for the Birds. Currently eight games behind the Yankees, they need to start stringing wins together to get themselves back in the title race for the East.
Minnesota has had its own struggles, of course. They still sit at the bottom of the AL Central thanks to a sluggish start in post All-Star play. The Twins are currently sitting on a five-game losing streak -- not what they had in mind considering their respectable finish to the first half of the season.
Fortunately for Minnesota, they'll have one of their top arms this season on the mound for game one of the series as they try to snap that streak. Minnesota will send out Scott Diamond (7-3, 2.62 ERA) to face Chris Tillman (1-0, 0.00 ERA). Tillman had about as good a season debut as a player can have when he allowed only two runs, both unearned, on July 4 with seven strikeouts in his first showing of 2012.
Diamond has impressed for the Twins this season, throwing quality starts in his last three games along with 10 of his last 12.
The game will be at Target Field at 8:10 p.m. ET.
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