Kansas City @ Minnesota preview
Target Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 8, 2010 ) Kansas City 3, Minnesota 7
Mired in a lengthy slump, Alberto Callaspo is hoping a reunion with Carl Pavano will awaken his bat.
Callaspo and the Kansas City Royals look to bounce back from an ugly showing Tuesday night as they resume their three-game series against the Minnesota Twins.
Kansas City managed just three hits off Twins starter Kevin Slowey before scoring three times in the final two innings to make the final score (7-3) a little more respectable.
Callaspo went 0-for-4 in the game, leaving the infielder in an 11-for-58 slump that has seen his average plummet from .314 to .277. He has driven in just two runs over his past 13 games and hasn't gone deep since May 20.
A few more at-bats against Pavano might fix everything.
Callaspo had a game to remember in his last meeting with Pavano, going 3-for-5 with a pair of homers and a career-best six RBIs in the Royals' 10-5 win on April 18. He had a three-run homer off Pavano in a six-run fourth inning and added a three-run bomb in the ninth off reliever Jesse Crain for good measure.
Callaspo has faced Pavano more than any other pitcher in his major league career and has teed off against him, hitting .478 (11-for-23) with two home runs and eight RBIs. A .284 hitter for his career, Callaspo is batting .325 (38-for-117) all-time against the Twins.
Pavano (5-6) is looking to get his uneven season back on track. After winning his first two decisions of the year, the 34-year-old has lost six of his last nine outings. He went seven innings in his last start, but was on the hook for four runs and eight hits in a 4-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners.
Run support has been hard to come by for Pavano. The Twins have scored just six runs in his last five losses, including back-to-back shutout efforts April 29 against the Detroit Tigers and May 6 against the Baltimore Orioles. Pavano surrendered just four runs in 16 combined innings in those games, but still absorbed the loss in both of them.
Pavano is 5-5 with a 7.21 ERA in 10 career starts against the Royals.
He'll be opposed by Kyle Davies (4-4), who hasn't been sharp of late. The journeyman right-hander has surrendered 11 runs over his past nine innings, raising his ERA nearly a full run to 5.49. Davies was tagged for six runs in just four innings in his last start, a 7-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.
Davies is 4-5 with a 4.80 ERA career record against the Twins. He hasn't faced them since last Aug. 22, when he surrendered six runs in 5 2-3 innings of an 8-7 loss.
Justin Morneau returned to the Minnesota lineup Tuesday, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts after missing a pair of starts due to illness. Despite the off-night, the British Columbia native is among the AL leaders with a .361 batting average to go with 13 home runs and 40 RBIs.