The Brewers' pitching staff is a mess, but they'll send their ace to the mound today, trying to bounce back from Friday's 15-3 loss to the Twins.
Righthander Yovani Gallardo is 4-0 with a 1.76 ERA in his past seven starts with 51 strikeouts in 41 innings. He has walked 25 batters in that span, however, so the scouting report for the Twins probably says to make him throw strikes.
This will be Gallardo's first game against the Twins.
Another chance for Kevin Slowey to turn things around. As has been well documented, he has completed the sixth inning in just one of his eight starts. That has to be eating at him. Then again, the Twins have won five of his eight starts, and at 5-3, he has a decision in every one of them.
Interleague play has been good to Slowey. he's 7-2 with a 3.03 ERA in 11 career starts against the National League, including 3-0 with a 2.43 ERA against the Brewers.
It's currently raining at Target Field (11:25 a.m.), but the forecast says it's supposed to get windy and clear up, with a high near 80 degrees by the first pitch, at 3:10 p.m.
Update: Manager Ron Gardenhire remains hopeful that J.J. Hardy will be ready to return on Tuesday. Sounds like Trevor Plouffe will get the starts at shortstop until Hardy returns.
Pat Neshek and Clay Condrey will each throw again Sunday after reporting no difficulty in their Friday throwing sessions. ... Gardenhire said he will check to see how Joe Mauer feels on Sunday morning before deciding whether to start him against lefthander Manny Parra. With an off day Monday, a day off Sunday would give Mauer two days of rest before the Yankees series on Tuesday. ... Joe Nathan had a very good check-up in New York and is progressing well in his recovery from Tommy John surgery.
