I love interleague, but watching Samuel Deduno "hit" was one of the worst things I've been subjected to watch, and thus I'm pleased to see the Twins get their DH back, even if it ends up being Jason Kubel (Edit: It's Josmil Pinto instead. Even better.)
The Brewers send Marco Estrada to the hill, who I feel is one of the bigger surprises to be a solid starting pitcher. To me, he was Jesse Chavez before Jesse Chavez became a thing, as Estrada was originally a mediocre reliever that suddenly figured things out in 2011 as a swingman. In 2012 he was primarily a starting pitcher, and despite durability issues, he's been solid as he's had a career 3.95 ERA as a starter to go with a good strikeout rate. However, his weakness is the longball, so if Willingham, Dozier, Arcia, etc. can get a hold of a couple pitches, Estrada won't last long tonight.
Facing him is Ricky Nolasco, who has been pitching a little better since an awful April. After putting up an ERA north of 6 in the season's first month, he did improve in May but it was still poor as it was just under 5. However, an encouraging sign has been that he was striking out more hitters in May and his FIP was 4.10, suggesting that he's doing everything in his power to be an average starting pitcher, he's just still receiving some bad luck.
Before we move on, one mini-rant from me. To the Twitter!
Hey Twins broadcasters, Danny Santana is not being "pressed" into CF duty. The Twins are openly choosing to play him over Hicks.
— Andrew Bryz-Gornia (@BryzTwinkieTown) June 4, 2014
Just like they openly chose to remove all other CFs from the 40-man roster.
— Andrew Bryz-Gornia (@BryzTwinkieTown) June 4, 2014
Brewers
Lineup will be posted upon my return from Red Lobster.
SP Marco Estrada
Twins
- Danny Santana, CF
- Brian Dozier, 2B
- Joe Mauer, 1B
- Josh Willingham, LF
- Oswaldo Arcia, RF
- Trevor Plouffe, 3B
- Kurt Suzuki, C
- Josmil Pinto DH
- Eduardo Escobar, SS
SP Ricky Nolasco