MLB Free Premium Play 04/05: Minnesota Twins @ Baltimore Orioles

Minnesota  at Baltimore

MLB - 919 Minnesota Twins @ 920 Baltimore Orioles (Starting Pitchers: L. Hendriks vs J. Arrieta) Even though Baltimore had an excellent season last year, not everything went well for them. One of the things that they didn't go well for them last season was Jake Arrieta's season, who struggled. Nevertheless, he also had a bit of bad luck, as he actually improved his K/BB rate to 3.1 in 2012 from 1.6 in 2011, and his 8.6 K/9 is easily the best of his career. I believe Arrieta will have a bounce back season this year, as he looked really good in Spring Training, with a 1.56 ERA and .206 BA against him in 17 innings! "I'm much more focused and much better prepared this time around," Arrieta said. "Not that I wasn't prepared or (didn't have) focus going into this last season. But I think my preparation and focus is a little bit more fine-tuned. And now I am in this position and am ready to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and keep my job all year. I think that's what everybody wants and what everybody expects from me. That's what I plan to do." With Arrieta motivated and the whole Orioles also motivated, as this will be their first home game of the season, I expect Baltimore to have a good performance today. The Orioles looked good on offense in the three games they played at Tampa Bay. Note that the Rays have one of the best pitching crews in the MLB and Baltimore's batters not only caused a lot of problems to the Rays's starters, as they also caused a lot of issues on the Rays's excellent bullpen. They will now face Liam Hendriks, who is coming from a forearm injury in Spring Training, something that caused problems on his preparations for the new season. His last start in Spring Training was exactly against Baltimore, who played with their regular lineup. Hendriks played just 2.2 innings and allowed just 4 hits. However, I found this decision of starting Hendriks today quite weird, as Minnesota allowed Baltimore's batters to have access to Hendriks during the preseason and they will now face him again today. Minnesota is coming from a series win over Detroit, on a bizarre cold weather that froze Detroit's hitters. This won't happen today with Baltimore's offense, who should pound Hendriks today. On the other hand, I expect Arrieta to have a quality outing, therefore I am expecting the Orioles to pick up a comfortable win today. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 920 Baltimore Orioles RL -1 (w/ J. Arrieta) @ -120 / 1.83 on 5Dimes