Oakland @ Minnesota preview
Target Field
Last Meeting ( Aug 14, 2010 ) Oakland 0, Minnesota 2
So much for any possibility that the Minnesota Twins would overlook the Oakland Athletics.
With three games against the A's sandwiched between two series with the Chicago White Sox, the Twins' chief competition for first place in the American League Central, the Twins might have been looking Oakland, came to town one game over the .500 mark.
The results of the first two games have dismissed that theory. The Twins took Friday night's game 4-3 behind Carl Pavano's 15th win of the season. Brian Duensing was even better on Saturday, pitching his first career complete game shutout and holding the A's to three hits in a 2-0 win.
The Twins got more good news, moving two games ahead of the White Sox after Detroit rallied in the ninth inning for a 3-2 win over Chicago.
Manager Ron Gardenhire and pitching coach Rick Anderson will keep a close eye today on Kevin Slowey, who didn't make his last start because of a sore right elbow.
Slowey was due to throw a bullpen session last weekend but that that was scrubbed, as was his start on Wednesday in Chicago. He managed to get through his bullpen session Thursday and will get the start against the A's.
There shouldn't be any limitations on pitch counts or innings since Slowey only missed one start. The Twins can't afford to have any of their starting pitchers miss extended time with injuries at this point of the season.
Duensing has already replaced Nick Blackburn, currently at Triple-A Rochester, in the rotation. Left-hander Glen Perkins was called up to take Slowey's start against the White Sox, but he pitched poorly and got the loss.
Slowey's last loss came on June 25 against the New York Mets. He's 3-0 with four no-decisions since then. Slowey will be making his first start since Aug. 5 against Tampa Bay, when he allowed four runs and tied a season high with nine strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings.
Slowey has allowed a lot of hits (140) and home runs (17), but avoiding free passes has been his biggest positive. He has walked only 22 batters in 127 2/3 innings, which has helped limit the damage of the opponents' .281 batting average.
Oakland’s Vin Mazzaro hasn't won since July 24 against the White Sox, a span of three starts. The right-hander hasn't pitched poorly in his last two outings, allowing four earned runs in 13 innings, but only has a no-decision and a loss to show for it.
Mazzaro lost to Seattle in his last start, giving up three runs and five hits in seven innings.
The A's have lost four of five to fall under .500.