Can Jimenez maintain his May magic?

By Roch Kubatko

Orioles

May 17, 2014, 8:44pm

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The Orioles have been held to two runs or fewer in five of their last seven games, which tends to put more pressure on their starting pitchers. Such a small margin for error.

It may not matter to Ubaldo Jimenez, who has been a completely different pitcher this month. He's no longer coming up small.

Jimenez was 0-4 with a 6.59 ERA in five starts in April, with 17 walks and 21 strikeouts in 27 1/3 innings. Opponents batted .300 against him.

Check out what he's done in May.

Jimenez is 2-0 with a 0.46 ERA in three starts this month, with five walks and 20 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings. Opponents are batting .191 against him.

Jimenez is 2-1 with a 3.18 ERA in four road starts this season and 4-3 with a 3.79 ERA in 10 career starts against the Royals. He's 2-1 with a 3.80 ERA in four games at Kauffman Stadium.

Jimenez faced the Royals on April 25 at Camden Yards and took the loss after allowing four earned runs in six innings.

Eric Hosmer is 9-for-23 with two homers and six RBIs against Jimenez. Billy Butler is 7-for-25 with a double and home run. Lorenzo Cain is 5-for-12 with a home run.

James Shields allowed two runs and three hits in seven innings on April 27 in a 9-3 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards. Nelson Cruz hit a two-run homer in the sixth.

Adam Jones is 13-for-42 (.310) with five doubles, one triple and one home run against Shields. Nick Markakis is 20-for-68 (.294) with five doubles and two home runs.

Chris Davis is 4-for-12 with a double and two home runs.