Nobody's been happier to see the Minnesota Twins succeed in their series against the Orioles than the Tampa Bay Rays, who have leapfrogged the birds in the standings to take second place in the AL East. Baltimore will have just a bit more to play for when the Twins take them on in game three for that reason.
Tommy Hunter (3-4, 6.11 ERA) will reportedly be called up to the Orioles to replace their injured All-Star Jason Hammel and get the start on Wednesday. Hunter will try to slow the bleeding after the Orioles gave up 25 runs in the first two games. He'll face Francisco Liriano (3-8, 4.93 ERA), who had a fine performance with 15 strikeouts in his last game but still ended up saddled with a loss against the Athletics.
Baltimore has now lost six of their last seven, terrible form from a team that looked like contenders as the All-Star Break approached. Minnesota will be happy with a series win to keep their low stock boosting in what has been a lost season, even at the expense of another chunk of Baltimore's playoff hopes.
The game will be at Target Field at 8:10 p.m. ET.
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