The Twins now sit just a half-game behind the Royals for 4th place in the AL Central, and it appears as though they have a good chance of overtaking them after tonight. Scott Diamond, easily the best pitcher for the Twins this year, is on the mound, although they will need to figure out Luis Mendoza. The last time the Twins faced Mendoza, he held them to 1 run in 8 innings, despite having a career 5.99 ERA. I suppose to be fair though, Mendoza does have a 4.32 ERA and 4.07 FIP in 81.1 IP this year, so it's not like that game in late June was his lone solid start this year.
Trevor Plouffe injured his right thumb yesterday, so he will not be starting tonight, while Denard Span returns to the lineup. Also, Justin Morneau is on paternity leave right now, which is why Chris Parmelee is starting in his place. Finally, look at how piranha-y the 7th through 2nd spots in the order look tonight.
Twins
- Denard Span, CF
- Ben Revere, RF
- Joe Mauer, C
- Josh Willingham, DH
- Ryan Doumit, LF
- Chris Parmelee, 1B
- Brian Dozier, SS
- Alexi Casilla, 2B
- Jamey Carroll, 3B
SP Scott Diamond
Royals
- Alex Gordon, LF
- Alcides Escobar, SS
- Billy Butler, DH
- Lorenzo Cain, CF
- Salvador Perez, C
- Mike Moustakas, 3B
- Jeff Francoeur, RF
- Eric Hosmer, 1B
- Yuniesky Betancourt, 2B
SP Luis Mendoza
Fun facts after the jump.
- Brian Dozier vs. LHP: .286/.310/.554
- Brian Dozier vs. RHP: .224/.258/.262
- Watch Scott Diamond's fastball. All PITCHf/x data I can find says that Diamond only throws a 4-seam fastball. However, it's atypical for a pitcher to throw only a 4-seamer, yet have a groundball rate above 50%, as in Diamond's case. I have noticed that some of his fastballs have some significant cutting action to them, which could be how Diamond has been able to generate so many grounders without using a 2-seam fastball.
- Also, I swear his curveball is actually a slider. Watch it and decide for yourself.