Twins split squad ties Orioles
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -- Wei-Yin Chen pitched four innings of three-hit ball, Henry Urrutia homered and the Baltimore Orioles tied a Minnesota Twins' split squad 2-2 Friday.
Brandon Waring hit a two-out homer in the ninth off Troy Patton to knot the score. Patton will serve a 25-game suspension at the start of the season after a positive test for a banned amphetamine.
Chen gave up one run, walked one and struck out three. He's got a 2.00 ERA in three outings this spring training.
Tommy Hunter, poised to take over for Jim Johnson as Baltimore's closer, worked a perfect fifth inning with a strikeout. The only two runs he's allowed in four innings came on solo home runs by Boston's Will Middlebrooks.
The Orioles used two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs in the second against Mike Pelfrey but got only one run, on a sacrifice fly by Quintin Berry.
"I would prefer not to be in those situations, but they're definitely going to happen and I thought that was good damage control," Pelfrey said.
In the bottom half, Eduardo Escobar hit an RBI single. Urrutia homered in the fifth off Brian Duensing.
Starting time: Pelfrey allowed one run, five hits and one lamentable walk in 3 1-3 innings.
"The one thing that maybe irritated me more than anything was the (Nolan) Reimold at-bat, when I got ahead and tried to throw some sliders and got into a full count and walked him," Pelfrey said.
The walk, sandwiched between two singles, led to Baltimore's only run off the right-hander.
Pelfrey likes where he stands just over two weeks before the opener.
"I have three more starts and I want to take advantage of that," he said. "I feel like there's still some arm strength to build up, but I feel good about where I'm at right now."