Pregame after the jump...Pregame
Ryan Rowland-Smith was pretty good his last time out against the Oakland A's, logging seven innings and six strikeouts, allowing just a solitary run. But just 10 days ago he was hit often by the Twins, 10 hits and a pair of walks (for five runs) over five innings while striking out just two. He's a tall southpaw of an Australian, and he still has room to grow, but right now it's hard to see his 89 mph fastball as intimidating, and his breaking balls often still look like works in progress.
For Scott Baker, he's an interesting study in contrasts. If he's on, he'll ring up six strikeouts or more and will probably last until the seventh. But luckily enough, Baker doesn't have to have his best stuff to be effective. He's grown into his new role on this incarnation of the Twins very well, and tonight he's looking to solidify that role yet again. He struck out six over eight innings in Los Angeles last week, and allowed just one run. If he's capable of holding down the Angels, he's more than capable of holding down the Mariners. Hopefully the offense can give him more support tonight than they did Francisco Liriano on Monday night.