First Pitch: 7:10pm CDT
TV: Fox Sports North (HD where available)
Radio: Twins Radio Network
Know Thine Enemy: Royals Review
Starting Pitchers
Baker has pitched five consecutive quality starts since his rough season opening. In that period, his ERA has dropped a full run. But he's got a ways to go to be the pitcher the Twins expected him to be after dominating in the second half last year. His problems have been concentrated in a few innings this year. He'll be cruising along retiring a dozen batters in a row or so and all of a sudden, a walk a hit and a homer later and he's tagged with a loss. Hopefully, he'll continue to get incrementally better and return to the form he displayed in the second half last year. Tonight would be as good a time as any.
Bannister is the kind of pitcher you expect to see in a Twins uniform. He pitches to contact, trying to get a lot of ground balls off of his sinker. Despite that, he's marginally a ground ball pitcher, inducing 51% of his outs on the ground. But the fly balls he does induce tend to stay in the park for whatever reason. Look for Twins hitters to hit enough to beat this guy tonight.
Lineups