First Pitch: 7:10 pm CDT
TV: Fox Sports North
Radio: Twins Radio Network
Know Thine Enemy: South Side Sox
It's time for the pitcher to catch up with his peripherals. Scott Baker, I'm also looking in your direction.
Kevin's job tonight is simple: give his offense a chance against a tough pitcher. That means he needs to figure out what's happening with his off-speed pitches, the breaking balls in particular, because he couldn't get away throwing 89% fastballs his last time out and I doubt the results would be any better if he tried it again. Right now, the man needs a big dose of confidence. He's a good pitcher, he just needs to show it.
Danks is having another good season, even if his win-loss record doesn't reflect it. He's been an out machine with amazing off-speed stuff, due in no small part to an amazing changeup. It doesn't hurt that his fastball/cut-fastball help set it up impeccably. Hitters just can't square up against him this season, if that sounds familiar at all: just 13.7% of balls in play against him have been line drives, and you can see that he's only allowed seven home runs this year so far.
On the plus side, left-handers are hitting him a little bit better than right-handers, which plays to the Twins' strengths. Relatively, at least.
Let's go Twins!