Kansas City @ Minnesota preview
Target Field
Last Meeting ( Sep 7, 2010 ) Kansas City 3, Minnesota 10
Joe Mauer has had his way with Kansas City Royals pitching this season. Zack Greinke can say nothing of the sort in regard to his performance against Minnesota Twins batters.
Mauer and the Twins attempt to complete a three-game sweep tonight when they host Greinke and the Royals in the series finale at Target Field.
In 14 games against Kansas City this season, Mauer is hitting .525 (31-for-59) with a home run and 17 RBIs. The reigning American League MVP is 10-for-35 (.286) with six RBIs vs. Greinke, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner.
Mauer is far from the only member of the Twins to give Greinke problems. The right-hander is 0-3 with a 10.29 ERA in three starts vs. Minnesota this year, allowing 16 earned runs in 14 innings.
Greinke has pitched well in his last five overall starts, however, going 1-0 with a 2.73 ERA. On Friday, he settled for a no-decision in a 9-5 loss to Detroit after yielding four runs and six hits in 6 1/3 frames.
The 26-year-old, who is 2-6 with a 3.26 ERA in 13 road starts in 2010, owns a 3-7 record and 4.94 ERA in 18 career games - including four relief appearances - against the Twins.
Kansas City has lost five of its last six games overall and 19 of 24 on the road, including Tuesday's 10-3 setback to Minnesota. Delmon Young collected three hits and four RBIs, Jim Thome homered for the fourth time in three contests and Francisco Liriano improved to 7-0 in 10 starts since the All-Star break by allowing just two runs in seven innings.
Thome's blast was the 586th of his career, tying him with Hall of Famer Frank Robinson for eighth place on the all-time list.
The victory was Minnesota's fifth in a row, 10th in 12 games and 18th in its last 21 at home. With the win, the Twins - who are 7-1 on their nine-game homestand - increased their lead over the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central to 4 1/2 games.
Starting for Minnesota tonight will be Brian Duensing, who has gone 4-1 in eight outings since joining the rotation.
He allowed three unearned runs in 6 2/3 innings against Detroit on Aug. 31 but did not figure in the decision in the Twins' 4-3 victory. Two days later, Duensing was called upon to make a relief appearance vs. the Tigers and surrendered one run in two frames.
Duensing is 2-0 in six games against the Royals this season, including a 6-4 victory on July 28 in which he gave up two runs and eight hits in six innings. The left-hander has a 3-0 record and 4.26 ERA in nine career meetings - two starts - vs. Kansas City.
The 27-year-old Duensing has been phenomenal at Target Field as a starter, going 2-0 with a miniscule 0.38 ERA in three outings.
Minnesota is 11-3 against Kansas City thus far this year. After today, the teams will play three more times at Kauffman Stadium from Sept. 27-29.