Liriano's next start scheduled for Saturday

Glen Perkins' next start after tonight will be pushed back to Monday vs. New York so that the Twins split up the two lefthanders in their rotation.

By JOE CHRISTENSEN, Star Tribune

Last update: August 4, 2008 - 7:19 AM

Francisco Liriano will make his next start Saturday at Kansas City, Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson said after Liriano tossed six shutout innings in Sunday's 6-2 victory over Cleveland.

In Liriano and Glen Perkins, who pitches tonight at Seattle, the Twins have two lefthanders in their rotation, and they want them split up so opponents keep getting different looks.

It was OK this time because Liriano and Perkins are facing different teams. After tonight, Perkins' next start will be moved to Aug. 11 against the Yankees, Anderson said.

If the Twins stick with this plan, Liriano will miss the Yankees and face the Mariners on the next homestand.

On Sunday, he lowered his ERA from 11.32 to 7.16.

"I feel way better," Liriano said. "I'm not nervous anymore. I just have to get ready for my next start."

Anderson seemed very pleased.

"In '06, whenever he got in trouble, it was slider, slider, slider," Anderson said. "He really didn't trust his other stuff, even though it was pretty good. When he came up [in April], he really didn't trust any of it. [Sunday], he trusted all of it."

New offensive sources

Joe Mauer got Sunday off, and Justin Morneau went 0-for-3 with a walk as the designated hitter.

The Twins finished with only six hits and received all their RBI from some unusual sources: Brendan Harris, Mike Lamb, Brian Buscher, Nick Punto and Denard Span.

Harris led off the third inning with his sixth home run, breaking a scoreless tie against Cleveland starter Matt Ginter (1-3).

Lamb and Punto had run-scoring triples, Buscher hit a run-scoring single, and Span hit his second home run, leading off the eighth against former Twins reliever Juan Rincon.

"Our guys banged the ball around and got a comfortable lead for [Liriano]," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "That was fun to see."

Etc.

• According to the Denver Post, the Rockies are interested in Livan Hernandez, who was designated for assignment by the Twins on Friday. The Twins still have a week to trade him but he first needs to clear waivers.

• Besides a one-game suspension, Gardenhire also drew a $1,000 fine from baseball's disciplinary czar, Bob Watson, for his actions on Thursday against Chicago. Gardenhire also was fined $1,500 for his pace-of-game penalty on June 15 at Milwaukee.

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