First Pitch: 7:10pm CDTTV: FSNRadio: 1500 ESPNKnow Thine Enemy: Bluebird Banter
For the first time with Darin Mastroianni and P.J. Walters on roster, the Twins are about to take the field. Let's get to it.
Technically, Marquis has thrown two quality starts in a row: six innings and three earned against Kansas CIty, then six innings and two earned in Seattle. Keys to another quality start for Marquis include pitching on the blacks of the plate, luck, keeping it down, luck, and probably a little luck. The reality is that as long as balls in play are hit in the general vicinity of his defense, he'll probably be just fine.
Alvarez is pitching over his head, that's the good news. He's stranding an abnormally high number of base runners (88%), he's getting a lot of ground balls (57%), and he's getting very few swinging strikes (4.4%). When batters get the ball in the air, they have a better chance of pushing it out than you might expect.
Lineups after the jump!
Blue Jays
Johnson, 2B
Escobar, SS
Bautista, RF
Encarnacion, DH
Thames, LF
Lawrie, 3B
Rasmus, CF
Lind, 1B
Arencibia, C
Twins
Span, CF
Dozier, SS
Mauer, 1B
Willingham, DH
Doumit, C
Plouffe, 3B
Komatsu, RF
Mastroianni, LF
Casilla, 2B