Twins try to shake off latest awful loss against Royals

The Twins send Tommy Milone to the mound as he looks to improve to 3-0 on the season one night after a bad loss at Kansas City.

April 21, 2015 at 8:47PM
Starting pitcher Tommy Milone is at Class AAA Rochester awaiting his call-up to the Twins, but the parent club's starters are pitching well right now.
Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Tommy Milone (33) throws against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 10, 2015 in Chicago. (AP Photo/David Banks) (Brian Stensaas — ASSOCIATED PRESS/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Good afternoon. Beautiful day here in Kansas City. Puffy white clouds, plenty of sun and a soft breeze going left to right.

The last time the Twins played awful against Kansas City was last week at Target Field. The Twins shook off an embarassing home opener defeat to win the next two games of the series. They coughed up a furball again yesterday, so we'll see if there will be a response.

Tommy Milone is on the mound. He could become the third player to improve to 3-0 on the season with a win tonight. There are four other 2-0 pitchers on the mound tonight.

KC speedster Paulo Orlando has five triples in his team's first 13 games. Only seven others have had at least as many through his team's first 13 games. Lou Gehrig, Deion Sanders, Charlie Grimm and Bill Bruton all hit six triples in the first 13 games. Arky Vaughn, Chet Ross and former Twin Cristian Guzman hit five triples in the first 13 games.

Remember Guzie? He did that in 2001, the year the Twins started 50-31 and looked ready to run away with the division. Guzman came down with the mysterious shoulder injury and missed a chunk of the second half. The Twins fell apart during the same time and missed the playoffs.

Guzie batted .302 that year with 28 doubles, 14 triples and 10 home runs. He was never the same with the Twins. He signed with Washington, was awful in 2005, missed all of 2006 then came back a new man in 2007, hitting .328.

Kurt Suzuki is back in the lineup tonight after getting smashed in the right foot by Oswaldo Arcia's foul ball yesterday. Gamer...

Royals

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Alcides Escobar, SS
Mike Moustakas, 3B
Lorenzo Cain, CF
Eric Hosmer, 1B
Kendrys Morales, DH
Alex Gordon, LF
Salvador Perez, C
Paulo Orlando, RF
Christian Colon, 2B

Jason Vargas LHP


Twins

Danny Santana, SS
Torii Hunter, RF
Joe Mauer, 1B
Brian Dozier, 2B
Kennys Vargas, DH
Trevor Plouffe, 3B
Oswaldo Arcia, LF
Kurt Suzuki, C
Shane Robinson, CF

Tommy Milone, LHP

about the writer

about the writer

La Velle E. Neal III

Columnist

La Velle E. Neal III is a sports columnist for the Minnesota Star Tribune who previously covered the Twins for more than 20 years.

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