Minnesota @ Seattle preview
T-Mobile Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 7, 2009 ) Minnesota 2, Seattle 4
The Minnesota Twins will try to match a season-best five-game winning streak when they travel to the Pacific Northwest for Monday's opener of a four-game series against the Seattle Mariners.
Seattle returns home aching after back-to-back walk-off losses to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Minnesota flies into Seattle hurting literally after center fielder Denard Span collided with second baseman Orlando Hudson as Span caught the final out in Sunday night’s 6-3 victory to cap a sweep of the Texas Rangers. The two players walked off after being dazed on the play for a few minutes but their status for Monday's game is unknown.
Losing either would be a blow to the Twins. Span is 19-for-47 (.404) in his last 11 games and Hudson is 7-for-16 (.438) in Minnesota's four-game winning streak. Hudson is third on the team in batting at .305.
Seattle blew a 7-2 lead Sunday when its bullpen fell apart. The Mariners walked in two runs and allowed another to score on catcher’s interference by Eliezer Alfonzo, who was otherwise outstanding in his first start of the year. Alfonzo hit a three-run homer and had three hits.
With the Mariners leading, 7-6, entering the bottom of the ninth, closer David Aardsma allowed a leadoff walk and a single before Howie Kendrick smashed a three-run homer to right-center field for a 9-7 victory.
That followed Saturday’s 5-1 loss in 10 innings when Angels first baseman Kendry Morales belted a game-ending grand slam. Morales, however, broke his left leg when he jumped on home plate and landed awkwardly in celebration.
In their return to Safeco Field, the Mariners will start Doug Fister (3-2, 2.03 ERA) against Francisco Liriano (4-3, 3.17).
Fister leads the American League with a 2.03 ERA and has a 1.80 ERA at home, but has three no-decisions this month alone as the Mariners have given the right-hander a meager 2.3 runs of support.
The hurler also gets his first look at Justin Morneau, who leads the league in average (.368), on-base percentage (.488), and on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) at 1.155.
Fister, who has never faced the Twins, allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers, but the Mariners rallied for a 5-3 victory.
Liriano has lost three consecutive starts after completing April as the best pitcher in the American League. In April, he allowed just three runs in 29 innings and helped the Twins to three shutout victories in his final three starts.
Liriano is 0-1 in Seattle and 3-2 overall against the Mariners in seven starts. Ichiro Suzuki has had the most success off Liriano, going 6-for-17 (.353). Jose Lopez is just 2-for-18 (.111) against the left-hander.