Baltimore's Guthrie gets nod against Twins

Jeremy Guthrie tries to avoid his 17th loss of the season game series with the Minnesota Twins at Target Field.

Guthrie had his last start pushed back four days because of shoulder stiffness and has not toed the rubber since August 13 when he was rocked by the Detroit Tigers to the tune of six runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. The right- hander actually held a 5-1 lead with two outs in the sixth, but fell apart and dropped to 5-16 on the year to go along with a 4.55 ERA.

"I just kept making the pitches that I was trying to do, and they were able to put good swings on it and were able to string together a big rally," Guthrie said. "I thought a portion of [my pitches] were executed pretty well and they just were able to put a good swing on them anyway, but certainly there were some that caught a lot of the plate."

Guthrie, who led the majors with 17 losses in 2009, pitched well in a loss to the Twins earlier in the year, but is 3-1 with a 2.95 ERA in seven games (five starts) against them.

Minnesota, meanwhile, will counter with righty Kevin Slowey, who will be making his second start of the season. His first one did not go as planned, as he allowed six runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings in a loss to the New York Yankees on Friday. He is 0-1 on the year with a 6.20 ERA.

Slowey has faced the Orioles three times and is 1-2 against them with a 4.80 ERA.

On Tuesday, Nolan Reimold smacked a three-run homer and Mark Reynolds added three hits and as many RBI of his own in Baltimore's 8-1 win.

Alfredo Simon (4-6) allowed one run on three hits and a walk while fanning eight through eight innings in the Orioles' second straight victory.

"He had good stuff no doubt, but we didn't have good at-bats. You can't give the pitcher too much credit. We just didn't do very well," Twins third baseman Danny Valencia said about Simon.

Brian Duensing (8-13) lasted just two-plus innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits and a walk for the loss.

Valencia's solo home run accounted for the Twins' lone run as they dropped their fifth game in six tries.

Baltimore has won four of its six meetings with the Twins this season.