Interesting story in the Detroit Free Press today. The Tigers have not had a ten-game losing streak in ten seasons. The Twins have have two ten-game losing streaks in the last three years. And, if they lose today, they will match the 11-game losing streak they endured in September of 2011.

They'll really need P.J. Walters, making his season debut today, to give them at least six solid innings. But Twins pitchers have done that just five times since May 2. In fact, Twins starters enter today having thrown the fewest innings of any team in baseball, a product of that run of few six-inning outings. Twins starters have a 5.77 ERA, the highest in baseball.

While Walters starts here, Kyle Gibson is scheduled to start for Class AAA Rochester tonight against Charlotte.

Oswaldo Arcia was optioned for Class AAA Rochester to make room for Walters. Technically, Walters has not been added to the 40-man roster yet. We're waiting to see who comes off to make room for him. I heard rumblings a couple days ago that it could be outfielder Joe Benson, but we'll see.

Another interesting story in the Free Press: The city could file for bankruptcy. The city is $15-17 billion in debt, and today's story was about debate on if the city should sell it's world-class art collection to help with the debt. Sad...

Joe Mauer is batting .397 this month, second best in the AL. And what came to light last night is that Mauer is now the leading active hitter in baseball with a .324 batting average. Albert Pujols and Ichiro have tailed off since 2009, allowing Mauer to pass them recently. The list:

1. Mauer, .324

2. Albert Pujols, .323

3. Ichiro, .3208

4. Miguel Cabrera, .3205

5. Joey Votto, .319

Will check back with lineups and updates.

Here are three thoughts following the Twins' 6-0 loss to Detroit

1. I THOUGHT A NO-HITTER COULD HAPPEN: I've seen three no-hitters in my lifetime, and there was a point during each one where I thought, `here it comes.' When I watched Bret Saberhagen no-hit the White Sox in Kansas City, the feeling came around the fifth inning. When I covered David Wells' perfect game against the Twins, I sensed history in the second inning (the Twins had Jon Shave in the lineup that day, after all). Eric Milton's no-hit feeling came around the sixth or seventh - many of us were grumbling about the 11 a.m. start so the Gophers could play football that night. When Anibal Sanchez struck out the side in the fourth inning, I thought the Twins were in trouble. Sanchez was nasty for most of the game. He got a little sloppy late but still had momentum. Mauer has broken up three no-hit bids now. Only Cesar Tovar (four) has done it more times in Twins history.

2. DEDUNO: He said he had trouble getting the feel for his breaking ball, and anyone who watched the World Baseball Classic knows how much he throws that pitch. The breaking ball improved as his outing went. And he still had that fastball. ``Nobody really squared him up,'' Mauer said. Deduno, however, made a mess of the second inning. He was late covering first on a grounder to first and missed a chance at an inning-ending double play. Instead, Don Kelly was safe. Avisail Garcia hit a bouncer toward the mound, and Deduno missed it - another chance to end the inning. Andy Dirks hit a grounder up the middle. The ball started rolling out of Eduardo Escobar's glove as he fielded it, so I don't think he got a good handle on it to get his best flip throw off. Still, Garcia looked out but was called safe. You know what, though? The Baseball Gods were punishing Deduno at this point for poor fielding. And Miggy ends up getting an RBI single. Deduno ended up throwing 28 more pitches after failing to cover first. And another Twins starter fails to pitch six innings.

3. ARCIA SENT DOWN: Too bad to see Oswaldo Arcia get sent down. I like watching him hit. But he will be back. What will be interesting is seeing who is taken off the 40-man roster to make room for P.J. Walters so he can start tomorrow.

Twins assistant General Manager Rob Antony confirmed that righthander P.J. Walters will start on Saturday and that the club will announce the roster move after the game. The Twins have to clear space on both their 25-man and 40-man rosters to make space for Walters, so things will be interesting after the game.

Walters, in nine starts at Rochester, was 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA.

Pedro Florimon said his sprained index finger was better, but manager Ron Gardenhire said he wants to watch Florimon during pre-game work before he will be comfortable using Florimon off the bench tonight.

Justin Morneau said the pitch he was hit with in Atlanta is not bothering him at all.

Trevor Plouffe (concussion) spent pre-game doing, ``the most cardio work I've ever done in my life,'' he said. He feels no lingering effects from the knee to the head he received from Dan Uggla in Atlanta while sliding into second. Plouffe has passed an  ImPACT test and is now building up to rejoin the team when his seven days on the concussion list have passed.

Chart

From the Sports Features Group, the league leaders in swinging strikeouts:

Yu Darvish*, Rangers, 74
Matt Harvey, Mets, 59
Max Scherzer, Tigers, 58
Jeff Samardzija, Cubs, 56
Felix Hernandez, Mariners, 55
A.J. Burnett*, Pirates, 54
Hisashi Iwakuma, Mariners, 54
Stephen Strasburg, Nationals, 54
Anibal Sanchez, Tigers, 51
Justin Verlander, Tigers, 51
Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers, 51

And, a couple Twins-related notes:

Longest losing streak in 2012: 6 games, April 21-27

Longest losing streak since 11 games, September 9-21, 2011

Since May 2 five Twins starters have pitched at least 6.0 innings:

- 5/5, Mike Pelfrey (6.0 IP) at Cleveland
- 5/7, Scott Diamond (7.0 IP) at Boston
- 5/10, Mike Pelfrey (6.0 IP) vs. Baltimore
- 5/14, Kevin Correia (7.0 IP) vs. Chicago-AL
- 5/17, Vance Worley (6.0) vs. Boston
 

Twins (18-26)

1. Jamey Carroll, 3B
2. Joe Mauer, C
3.  Josh Willingham, DH
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Oswaldo Arcia, LF
6. Chris Parmelee, RF
7. Eduardo Escobar, SS
8. Aaron Hicks, CF
9. Brian Dozier, 2B

Pitching: Samuel Deduno, RHP

Tigers (26-19)

1. Andy Dirks, LF
2. Omar Infante, 2B
3. Miggy, 3B
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Jhonny Peralta, SS
7. Alex Avila, C
8. Don Kelly, CF
9. Asivail Garica, RF

Pitching: Annibal Sanchez, RHP

Twins assistant General Manager Rob Antony confirmed that righthander P.J. Walters will start on Saturday and that the club will announce the roster move after the game. The Twins have to clear space on both their 25-man and 40-man rosters to make space for Walters, so things will be interesting after the game.

Walters, in nine starts at Rochester, was 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA.

Pedro Florimon said his sprained index finger was better, but manager Ron Gardenhire said he wants to watch Florimon during pre-game work before he will be comfortable using Florimon off the bench tonight.

Justin Morneau said the pitch he was hit with in Atlanta is not bothering him at all.

Trevor Plouffe (concussion) spent pre-game doing, ``the most cardio work I've ever done in my life,'' he said. He feels no lingering effects from the knee to the head he received from Dan Uggla in Atlanta while sliding into second. Plouffe has passed an  ImPACT test and is now building up to rejoin the team when his seven days on the concussion list have passed.

Chart

From the Sports Features Group, the league leaders in swinging strikeouts:

Yu Darvish*, Rangers, 74
Matt Harvey, Mets, 59
Max Scherzer, Tigers, 58
Jeff Samardzija, Cubs, 56
Felix Hernandez, Mariners, 55
A.J. Burnett*, Pirates, 54
Hisashi Iwakuma, Mariners, 54
Stephen Strasburg, Nationals, 54
Anibal Sanchez, Tigers, 51
Justin Verlander, Tigers, 51
Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers, 51

 
Longest losing streak in 2012: 6 games, April 21-27

Longest losing streak since 11 games, September 9-21, 2011

Since May 2 five Twins starters have pitched at least 6.0 innings:

- 5/5, Mike Pelfrey (6.0 IP) at Cleveland
- 5/7, Scott Diamond (7.0 IP) at Boston
- 5/10, Mike Pelfrey (6.0 IP) vs. Baltimore
- 5/14, Kevin Correia (7.0 IP) vs. Chicago-AL
- 5/17, Vance Worley (6.0) vs. Boston
 

Twins (18-26)

1. Jamey Carroll, 3B
2. Joe Mauer, C
3.  Josh Willingham, DH
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Oswaldo Arcia, LF
6. Chris Parmelee, RF
7. Eduardo Escobar, SS
8. Aaron Hicks, CF
9. Brian Dozier, 2B

Pitching: Samuel Deduno, RHP

Tigers (26-19)

1. Andy Dirks, LF
2. Omar Infante, 2B
3. Miggy, 3B
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Jhonny Peralta, SS
7. Alex Avila, C
8. Don Kelly, CF
9. Asivail Garica, RF

Pitching: Annibal Sanchez, RHP

The Twins officially added Samuel Deduno to the roster today. To make room for him on the 40-man roster, they transferred reliever Tim Wood (shoulder) from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list.

Deduno's debut has been delayed by a strained groin muscle suffered during the World Baseball Classic when he starred for the Dominican Republic. He posted a 2.70 ERA in three starts at Class AAA Rochester before the call up.

In 15 starts for the Twins last season, Deduno went 6-5 with a 4.44 ERA.

The Twins have one more move to make to clear space for righthander P.J. Walters, who announced last night that he had been promoted to the Twins. Indications last night were that Walters would start on Saturday. The Twins will have to make room on their 25-man and 40-man rosters for Walters..

Here are three thoughts following the Twins' 7-6 loss to the Tigers on Thursday. Nine straight losses and counting.....

1. ROSTER MOVES: During the game, it was learned that P.J. Walters had been told that he's being promoted to the Twins with the possibility of starting Saturday against Detroit. This comes on the heels of Samuel Deduno being called up to start on Friday. Both pitchers have to be added to the 40-man roster. They can move reliever Tim Wood from the 15-day to the 60-day DL to make up one more. Another possible move: Joe Benson coming off the 40-man roster. Benson has been terrible at Rochester, batting .192 with 1 home run and 9 RBI in 42 games. I think this might happen in order to put one of the starters on the 40-man.  The Twins would not confirm any roster moves following the game, so we'll have to wait and see how things shake out.

2. FLORIMON. The shortstop apparently jammed his right index finger while diving into third base in the third inning on Thursday. He eventually left the game and was replaced by Eduarado Escobar. Florimon is listed as day-to-day, but I can see him missing a couple of games. Like the Twins needed more injuries.

3. STAREDOWNS. There were a few high-tension moments in Thursday's game. The first two pitches thrown to Torii Hunter in the fifth should have been called strikes, but long-time umpire Joe West called them balls. Scott Diamond didn't look too happy after the second pitch. He ended up walking Hunter and the Tigers scored a run in that inning after Diamond got two easy outs...Hunter stared and said something to Casey Fien after Fien's 0-2 heater came up an in on Hunter. I don't advocate headhunting, but I'm all for a pitcher protecting the outer half of the plate. And Hunter has been slapping balls to right field all season. So Fien had a right to go in there...Miguel Cabrera then stared at Fien after a 1-0 breaking ball got close to him. Really, Miggy? Lastly, I thought a pitch to Morneau in the ninth inning was off the plate. Morneau struck out and marched right into the dugout. I looked at Gameday, and the pitch wasn't even close to being a strike.