Minnesota @ Houston preview
Minute Maid Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 8, 2014 ) Houston 14, Minnesota 5
Tommy Milone is slated to make his team debut on Monday with the Minnesota Twins, but the likely long-awaited return of a team icon figures to steal his thunder. Joe Mauer is expected to play for the first time since July 1 as the Twins visit the Astros for the first of three games in Houston. A six-time All-Star, Mauer has missed Minnesota’s last 34 games due to right oblique injury, but proved his readiness by going 6-for-15 during a four-game rehab assignment for Single-A Cedar Rapids.
Mauer's return coincides with the first major-league start in over a month for Milone, who was acquired from Oakland at the trade deadline despite going 6-0 with a 2.62 ERA over his previous 11 starts. Jose Altuve returned from a one-game absence due to a sore neck, but not even his league-leading 49th multi-hit game of the season could stop Houston from watching its season-best five-game home winning streak snapped in Sunday’s 6-2 loss to Texas. The Astros scored a season high in runs in their last meeting with Minnesota - a 14-5 rout on June 8 – to take the rubber match of a three-game road set.
TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, FSN North (Minnesota), CSN Houston
PITCHING MATCHUP: Twins LH Tommy Milone (6-3, 3.55 ERA) vs. Astros RH Brad Peacock (3-8, 5.44)
Dealt by the Athletics in exchanged for outfielder Sam Fuld, Milone will take the big-league mound for the first time since July 4 on Monday. The 27-year-old tossed six scoreless innings in that outing for Oakland and prepared for his Twins’ debut by allowing a run and six hits over seven innings for Triple-A Rochester on Tuesday. Milone is 1-1 with a 4.78 ERA in five career starts against the Astros and will take over the rotation spot left behind by Kevin Correia, who was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.
Peacock fell to 0-3 with a 16.00 ERA over his last three turns following Wednesday’s 10-3 loss in Philadelphia. The Florida native, who has surrendered 15 runs on 14 hits and nine walks in 8 2/3 innings after recording only out during an abbreviate July 13 outing versus Boston, was tagged for a career-high eight runs on seven hits over five frames against the Phillies. Peacock took the loss despite striking out 10 in his only career start versus the Twins in August 2013 after he gave up three runs over seven frames.
WALK-OFFS
1. Mauer, who returns to a 12-game hitting streak, is batting .167 in 11 career games against Houston – his lowest average against any American League opponent.
2. Altuve is batting a league-best .418 against southpaws in 2014.
3. Minnesota and Houston’s starting pitchers have recorded 51 losses, tied with Texas for the most in the AL.
PREDICTION: Twins 6, Astros 3