After a nice winning streak, the Twins are now going the other direction in the last few days. That tumble continued today with a low-scoring 3-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. The pitching was good, but the offense couldn’t make their hits account for anything.

** Nick Blackburn received the start after Scott Baker was scratched due to a little bit of back pain. He allowed runs for the first time this spring in his three inning outing. In his three innings of work, Blackburn allowed two walks, three hits and three runs. Overall this spring, Blackburn has pitched pretty well and has a 3.86 ERA through the conclusion of the game.

**Brian Bass pitched two scoreless innings after that, and allowed just one hit total. Bass now has a 2.16 ERA so far this spring. Randy Keisler, Juan Rincon and Carmen Cali each pitched an inning apiece after Bass, and none of the three allowed a hit or run.

** On the offensive side, the Twins were outscored three to one, but it wasn’t for the lack of hits. In fact, the Twins out-hit the Orioles eight to three.

** Craig Monroe accounted for two of the teams hits, and was the only player to collected multiple hits in the game. He went 2-3 on the day and scored the team’s lone run.

** Centerfield watch: Denard Span started in center, and played the entire game there. He lowered his average to .227 after going 0-4 with two strikeouts. Jason Pridie again received just a pinch-hit at-bat, and Carlos Gomez didn’t enter the game.

** Other players to collect hits were: Nick Punto, Delmon Young, Jason Kubel, Mike Redmond, Tommy Watkins and Matt Tolbert.