Los Angeles @ Minnesota preview
Target Field
Last Meeting ( Apr 8, 2010 ) Minnesota 10, LA Angels 1
The Minnesota Twins have uncovered a gem of a starting pitcher without looking outside the organization. He was stashed in their own bullpen.
Left-hander Brian Duensing has gone from versatile reliever to top-notch starter since a late July promotion and looks to continue his success when the Minnesota Twins host the Los Angeles Angels on Friday in the opener of a three-game series.
Duensing is 3-0 with a 2.43 earned-run average in five starts. He has allowed three runs or less in each outing and is coming off a superb complete-game performance in which he outpitched Oakland All-Star Trevor Cahill.
Duensing blanked the Athletics on three hits while improving his overall mark to 6-1 and lowering his season ERA to 2.00. Duensing, who started nine games last season, now appears entrenched in the rotation.
He’ll look to keep Minnesota’s recent hot stretch going. Even though the Twins were trounced 11-0 by the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night, Minnesota is 9-2 over its last 11 games and has a four-game lead over the White Sox in the American League Central.
The Angels have never put things together this season and desperation mode is close to setting in. The team reportedly held a team meeting prior to Thursday’s game after falling below .500 and got instant results with a convincing 7-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
But this week’s struggles prevented the Angels from taking advantage of an opportunity to gain significant ground on the Texas Rangers. The AL West leaders lost their fourth consecutive game Thursday, but Los Angeles is seven games behind with just 40 contests remaining.
Beating the Twins will be no easy chore for the Angels, who lost three of four to Minnesota earlier this season in Anaheim. Minnesota is a splendid 15-5 against AL West teams this season.
Dan Haren starts for the Angels. The right-hander is 1-3 in five starts since being acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Haren’s ERA is fine (3.44) and his strikeout-to-walks ratio (24-to-4) is impressive but the Angels are averaging just 2.4 runs per game in his five appearances.
This will be Haren’s seventh career start against Minnesota. He has a 2-2 record and 2.57 ERA.
Twins catcher Joe Mauer has a .375 career average against Haren and is in the midst of a hot streak that has seen him bat .463 (38-of-82) over his last 21 games.
Mauer has had three or more hits seven times during the streak, including one five-hit game and two four-hit contests.
Veteran Jim Thome is 5-for-10 with two homers and five RBIs against Haren.
For the Angels, Hideki Matsui had four RBIs on Thursday and is batting .500 (9-for-18) over his last five games. Outfielder Torii Hunter went 3-for-4 Thursday and is hitting .417 (20-for-48) in August.