Minnesota @ Milwaukee preview
American Family Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 22, 2010 ) Minnesota 5, Milwaukee 7
It always helps ease the pain when a team can turn to its ace after a frustrating defeat.
Tuesday night's 7-5 loss to Milwaukee was definitely frustrating for the Minnesota Twins, who couldn't hold a 3-0 first-inning lead and dropped the opener of this three-game series.
The one thing Twins manager Ron Gardenhire can feel good about is turning the ball over to Francisco Liriano for tonight's game.
While Liriano has only two victories in his last eight starts, his record, at least in terms of wins and losses, is misleading.
The left-hander has often displayed the dominating form the produced four straight wins from April 15-May 2. Liriano has struck out 10 or more batters twice in his last three starts.
A poor first inning cost Liriano and the Twins a chance to win in his last start against Colorado. He gave up three runs in the inning and, even though he did not allow a run in the next six innings, Minnesota's offense was shut down by Ubaldo Jimenez.
Liriano has struck out 93 and walked only 24 in 87 innings. He also has allowed two homers all season, both of which came on May 20 when Boston’s Adrian Beltre and Kevin Youkilis took him deep.
This should provide for an interesting matchup against the power-hitting Brewers, who are among baseball's leaders when it comes to hitting the ball out of the park.
Milwaukee has hit 87 home runs for the season and has five players (Corey Hart, Prince Fielder, Casey McGehee, Rickie Weeks and Ryan Braun) who have hit 10 or more.
Manny Parra starts for the sixth time in 23 appearances. Ironically, the left-hander's only win of the season came against the Twins, when he pitched two shutout innings in relief on May 23.
Originally scheduled to start that game, Parra had to be used in relief the day before and was scratched from the start. Manager Ken Macha called on Parra to pitch the fourth and fifth innings of a 4-3 win.
Parra will be making his fifth straight start and seems to be stretched out enough to eat up some innings. He has gone six innings in each of his last two starts.
Although Parra got the loss in both outings, he kept the Brewers in each game. He has struck out 23 in 17 1/3 innings in his last three starts.