Oriolesfan44

Nearly everything was tested during Baltimore's three-game set at Tampa Bay. Starting pitching crumbled under fire, forcing the bullpen to pull extra duty, and in turn, putting pressure on the Orioles' hitters to produce. All of this while missing three of their everyday players made the road trip a stressful one.
But come Friday, at least two O's will be back, as Corey Patterson rejoined the team just prior to Wednesday's game, and Jay Payton is expected to link with Baltimore in time to open the home series against Toronto.

When Daniel Cabrera takes the mound Friday, there's hope he'll eat up some innings, something that prior pitchers have struggled with as the season kicked off. There's no reason to think otherwise, either -- the 6-foot-7 righty went seven and 7 2/3 innings, respectively, in each of his first two starts while surrendering just five total runs at Minnesota and against Detroit.

In his most recent start against the Royals, Cabrera ran up his pitch count early and exited after just five frames of work. Still, he permitted Kansas City just three earned runs on seven hits, proving his ability to work out of jams.

He's also faced the Jays more times than he has any other team, compiling a 4-5 record and 4.16 ERA in 11 career starts (62 2/3 innings).

Toronto will start A.J. Burnett, who in contrast, has seen the O's just once in his seven-year career (back in 2001), and went 7 2/3 innings in the game while surrendering three runs on five hits for a 3.52 ERA.

This season, the righty has gone up and down with his outings, sandwiching a one-run, 6 2/3-inning effort against Kansas City between a two-inning outing and one of 5 1/3 for a combined 10 runs, both against Detroit.

The Orioles are 199-217 all time against the Jays, and the two clubs have not yet met this season.

Pitching matchup
BAL: RHP Daniel Cabrera (1-1, 3.66 ERA)
Cabrera holds righties to a .231 batting average.

TOR: RHP A.J. Burnett (1-1, 7.07)
Burnett holds opponents to a lower batting average during April (.221) than in any other non-playoff month.

Player to watch
Paul Bako is 3-for-6 in his career against Burnett, while Aubrey Huff is the only current Oriole to have multiple RBIs off of him (three in 25 at-bats).

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Cal Ripken HOF 2007