Carl Pavano is 6-5 with a 6.62 ERA in his career against the Royals. His worst outing of the season came against Kansas City on Apr, 18 at Target Field when they scored seven runs off him in 3.1 innings. Pavano won the next two meetings, holding the Royals to four runs over 15 innings.

Pavano is going for 10 straight outings without a loss.

Scouts for the Angels, Mariners and Dodgers were at Frontier Field on Monday as Glen Perkins held Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to one run over seven innings. Many people with the club expect Perkins to be with the Twins soon, but there's always a chance he could be moved before Friday's non-waiver trade deadline.

Nick Punto starts at second today as he's 4-for-7 against Bruce Chen.

Jason Kubel is getting a break today. Jason Repko gets to start against lefty Bruce Chen, who helped beat the Twins 9-8 on June 10 at Target Field.

One thing that impressed Gardenhire about Francisco Liriano's outing on Monday: He didn't have his slider early in the game so he went with his sinker until his slider appeared in the later innings. In the past, Liriano would have kept throwing the slider and probably would have gotten into trouble. A sign of progress.

Michael Cuddyer has joined the twitter world. You can reach him at @MCuddy5.

Twins (54-46)

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Jason Repko, RF
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Delmon Young, LF
5. Michael Cuddyer, 1B
6. Danny Valencia, 3B
7. J.J. Hardy, SS
8. Nick Punto, 2B
9. Drew Butera, C

Carl Pavano, RHP

Royals (42-57)

1. Scott Podsednik, LF
2. Jason Kendall, C
3. Billy Butler, 1B
4. Jose Guillen, DH
5. Rick Ankiel, CF
6. Wilson Betemit, 3B
7. Alex Gordon, RF
8. Yuniesky Betancourt, SS
9. Chris Getz, 2B

Bruce Chen, LHP