DETROIT -- Another Twins pitcher makes his final start of the season tonight, only this one isn't a starter. Anthony Swarzak wraps up his third full season in the Twins' bullpen by getting another fill-in start for Tommy Milone as the Twins try to delay Detroit's division-winning celebration by another day.
It's Swarzak's fourth start of the season, and third in a row since Milone came down with a tired arm and a stiff neck in mid-September, allowing the 29-year-old righthander to escape his bullpen role temporarily. "The wonderful thing about him is you can use him in all kinds of different ways," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He can throw 50 pitches and two days later, he's back in the bullpen and ready to do it again."
Swarzak will face Tigers righthander Rick Porcello as Detroit tries to reduce its magic number to clinch the AL Central from 2 to 0 and set up an ALDS series with Baltimore next week. Gardenhire hopes Swarzak picked up a blueprint for how to pitch against these Tigers last night from Trevor May.
"He's got to use that change-up. We saw May last night, once he got into using that change-up, it got them off of everything," Gardenhire said. "[May's] change-up was very good, he got a lot of big outs with it, and Swarzie's going to have to do the same thing."
It wouldn't be surprising to see Milone pitch too, in relief of Swarzak. A cortisone shot has taken care of the neck pain, Milone believes, and the Twins would like to get him an inning or two to send him into the off-season certain of his healthy.
Jordan Schafer remains out of action with a nerve problem in his right elbow, so Chris Herrmann gets another start in left field, and Eduardo Escober moves to third base once again, filling in for Trevor Plouffe. Here are tonight's lineups from Comerica Park:
TWINS
Santana SS
Dozier 2B
Mauer 1B
Vargas DH
Arcia RF
Suzuki C
Herrmann LF
Hicks CF
Escobar 3B
Swarzak RHP
TIGERS
Kinsler 2B
Hunter RF
Cabrera 1B
V. Martinez DH
J.D. Martinez LF
Castellanos 3B
Avila C
Romine SS
Davis CF
Porcello RHP