Pregame
The Twins face their toughest pitcher of the series in Ervin Santana, he of the great fastball/slider combination. Santana owns the fourth-fastest fastball in baseball, averaging 94.3 mph. He's not necessarily a ground-ball or fly-ball pitcher, because he gets a fair bit of both. High strikeout rates, low walk rates and an incredible 3.26 xFIP make him a mean customer.
Kevin Slowey is coming off what could be the best start of his career, where he K'd 12 in seven innings against the A's. Over his last three starts he's logged 18.2 innings and allowed just three earned runs. Stingy on the walks but able to ring up the strikeouts on occasion, Slowey's the proud owner of a 5.35 K/BB ratio...which is just amazing. When his breaking balls are working, Kevin can be as effective as anyone.