Kansas City @ Minnesota preview
Target Field
Last Meeting ( Sep 14, 2011 ) Minnesota 3, Kansas City 7
THE STORY: The Minnesota Twins need to win two of their last three games to avoid in the indignity of having 100 losses this season. On Monday, they'll send winless righthander Kevin Slowey to the mound to open a season-ending three-game set against the visiting Kansas City Royals. The Twins collected just their third win in 22 games with a 6-4 triumph over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday. Righthander Felipe Lopez will provide the opposition for Kansas City, which has won 10 of its last 13 games.
TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, FSKC (Kansas City), FSNO (Minnesota)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Royals RH Felipe Paulino (3-10, 4.45 ERA) vs. Twins RH Kevin Slowey (0-7, 6.54 ERA)
Paulino has struggled mightily on the road this season, but he did walk away with a win in his last such outing. The 27-year-old Dominican tied a career high with 11 strikeouts over seven solid innings against the Seattle Mariners. A pair of no-decisions followed, but Paulino is pitching well toward the end of a difficult season. He lost his lone career start against the Twins, permitting four runs in seven innings en route to a 4-3 loss on July 17.
Slowey seemed well on his way to his first win in his last outing. After no-hitting the Mariners through 5 2/3 innings, the bottom fell out as the 27-year-old yielded five runs and six hits over the next two-thirds of a frame. Slowey hasn't walked a batter in his last 22 innings and owns a 5-1 career mark against the Royals, although he hasn't faced them this season.
ABOUT THE ROYALS (70-89): Rookie Eric Hosmer's nine-game hitting streak came to an end during Sunday's 2-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. With 20 hits in his last 10 games, Hosmer leads all rookies with a .297 batting average and 66 runs scored. Outfielder Jeff Francoeur has been shut down for the final few contests so that Lorenzo Cain and Jarrod Dyson can get some playing time. Cain ended Gavin Floyd's no-hit bid in the sixth and Dyson belted a two-run double later in the frame. Melky Cabrera, who went 0-for-4 on Sunday, still needs one hit to become the seventh player in Royals history to reach 200 in a season. He is 2-for-11 with a home run in his career against Slowey.
ABOUT THE TWINS (61-98): Light-hitting Rene Tosoni led off the 10th inning with a homer on Sunday. The rookie's blast proved to be the winning run as Minnesota guaranteed that it would not match the 1982 club with 102 losses. Rookie Ben Revere is riding a career-high 13-game hitting streak, collecting 24 base hits in that stretch. The first-round pick is batting .333 with five runs scored as the No. 2 hitter in the lineup. Revere has faced Paulino, going 1-for-3.
FINAL PITCH: "We’ve got three games left and you want to finish off strong on a positive note. Even though we have a losing season, we want to win. You don’t want to end the year with a loss." - Tosoni