Minnesota @ Baltimore preview

Last Meeting ( May 9, 2010 ) Baltimore 0, Minnesota 6

The Minnesota Twins have struggled of late, though Carl Pavano has consistently provided a bright spot.

Pavano will be looking to keep his winning streak alive when the Twins open a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.

The American League Central leader for the better part of the first half of the season, Minnesota surrendered its advantage after a 2-7 start to July as the Chicago White Sox were in the midst of a 25-5 tear. It looked as though the Twins were getting back on track when they took three of four from the White Sox after the All-Star break, but a pair of losses to the lowly Cleveland Indians quickly put them back in a hole.

Minnesota avoided being swept by the worst team in the Central on Wednesday afternoon behind a strong start from Francisco Liriano. But with Justin Morneau still out of the lineup due to concussion symptoms and Joe Mauer looking like something less than the MVP he was last season, the Twins are putting a lot more pressure on a starting rotation that doesn’t have a big history of success.

While Liriano has had monents of brilliance this season and appears to be fully recovered from Tommy John surgery, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey and Nick Blackburn have been huge disappointments thus far, with each allowing opponents to hit better than .290. Minnesota management has been mentioned as players in the trade market, though they already missed out on Cliff Lee.

Until or unless reinforcements arrive, the Twins will be leaning heavily on Pavano, whose career over the past several seasons has been more of an injury-related joke than a top-of-the-rotation pedigree. But after performing well down the stretch in 2009 and signing with Minnesota again in the offseason, the right-hander has been as durable as any pitcher in the league.

Pavano ranks second in the AL behind Lee with a 1.03 WHIP and leads the Twins staff with 11 wins and a 3.48 ERA. He is 6-0 in his last eight starts, including three complete games, and has gone at least six innings in all but two of his 19 outings this seasons. The Connecticut native is coming off a win over the White Sox last week in which he allowed two runs and struck out six on the way to a complete game.

Pavano made one start against the Orioles earlier in the season and suffered a loss despite yielding only two runs and six hits in eight innings. He is 4-3 with a 3.28 ERA in eight career starts against Baltimore.

The Orioles, who own the worst record in the major leagues, will activate veteran Kevin Millwood for the start on Thursday. Brought in during the offseason to provide a veteran presence for an otherwise young rotation, Millwood was among the worst pitchers in baseball before being placed on the disabled list on July 6 with a strained forearm.

Millwood has surrendered 20 homers in 107 2/3 innings this season and has never beaten the Twins in his career, owning an 0-8 record with a 5.71 ERA in 13 starts.