The Twins have never faced lefthander Adam Morgan, tonight's starter for the Phillies, but Paul Molitor is optimistic that last night's 14-run explosion will have a carryover effect.
"You'd like to think offensively that the middle guys have been freed up a little bit by having some offensive success. But you're facing a guy you haven't faced before," Molitor said of Morgan, who is 1-6 with a 6.49 ERA this season. "I would love to see some of the momentum we've had offensively continue here. That would be good for all of us and good for our pitching staff."
It's a pitching staff that had to ask for six innings from the bullpen on Tuesday, and frankly, it's one that needs a good start from Kyle Gibson. The righthander is 0-5 this season with a 6.06 ERA, but showed signs of returning to form last weekend against the Yankees.
Byung Ho Park, 2-for-25 with 11 strikeouts in his last seven games, is out of the lineup, and Molitor said he's been honest with the Korean slugger. He'll look for good matchups that might work better for Park than the hard-throwing Morgan, who has struck out eight batters in each of his last two starts.
With Park on the bench, Trevor Plouffe will serve as designated hitter. Here's tonight's lineups:
PHILLIES
Herrera CF
Blanco 2B
