The Twins batted just .221 on their road trip to Texas and Seattle, going 3-4, and as they look to get their offense going this week, they'll be facing a Tigers pitching staff that has finally gotten on a roll.
Tigers starting pitchers are 7-1 with a 1.82 ERA in their past 10 games. Armando Galarraga starts tonight, and according to the Twins game notes, they are 8-2 in the 10 games he's pitched against them in his career, including eight starts. Denard Span is 9-for-16 (.563) lifetime against the righthander, and Joe Mauer is 9-for-20 (.450).
The Twins counter with lefthander Brian Duensing. Detroit's hottest hitter is Ryan Raburn, who is batting .341 with eight home runs and 21 RBI in his past 23 games.
When the Twins last faced the Tigers, right before the All-Star break, Detroit was in first place. Now the Tigers are trailing the first-place Twins by 10 games.
The Twins are 7-5 against Detroit this year, including 5-1 at Target Field. For more, check out La Velle's series preview. There's a good chance of rain later in the evening, so we'll be keeping an eye on Weather.com.
Updates to come...
Update: Justin Morneau (concussion) won't work out again until Friday, Manager Ron Gardenhire said. Morneau has been doing cardio workouts at home.
"He's following the doctor's orders," Gardenhire said. "That's all I'm officially supposed to tell you, and unofficially, that's what I'm going to tell you."
