Twins face Cleveland tonight, as schedule finally brings another division foe

The Twins are 4-11 against the AL West, 5-12 against the AL East and have played just two games inside their own division, going 1-1 against the Royals in late April.

From this point forward, the Twins will play 70 of their final 128 games (55 percent) against the AL Central, starting tonight with the first game of a two-game series against the first-place Indians.

As the Twins point out in tonight's game notes, they've posted a .572 winning percentage against AL Central teams over the previous four years, compared to .521 against the AL West and .338 against the AL East.

Carl Pavano pitches for the Twins, trying to overcome his recent shoulder issues. He'll be opposed by righthander Jeanmar Gomez, who beat out Kevin Slowey for the No. 5 spot in Cleveland's rotation this spring.

INDIANS (18-16)

1. Shin-Soo Choo, RF
2. Jason Kipnis, 2B
3. Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
4. Travis Hafner, DH
5. Carlos Santana, C
6. Michael Brantley, CF
7. Jose Lopez, 3B
8. Casey Kotchman, 1B
9. Shelley Duncan, LF

Starting pitcher: RH Jeanmar Gomez (2-2, 4.66 ERA)

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Brian Dozier, SS
3. Joe Mauer, 1B
4. Josh Willingham, LF
5. Ryan Doumit, DH
6. Trevor Plouffe, 3B
7. Darin Mastroianni, RF
8. Drew Butera, C
9. Jamey Carroll, 2B

Starting pitcher: RH Carl Pavano (2-3, 5.02 ERA)

Target Field. First pitch: 7:10 p.m. TV: FSN. Twins Radio Network