And now...Game 2.
Current Series
Twins lead the series 1-0
| Fri 05/21 | WP: Nick Blackburn (5 - 1) LP: Dave Bush (1 - 5) | 3 - 15 loss |
Milwaukee Brewers Saturday, May 22, 2010, 3:10 PM CDT Yovani Gallardo vs Kevin Slowey Partly cloudy. Winds blowing in from center field at 15-20 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 80. Complete Coverage > | ||
| Sun 05/23 | 1:10 PM CDT | |
Follow the jump for today's pitching matchup, lineup and more!
Kevin Slowey (5-3, 4.70) looks a lot like last night's starter, Nick Blackburn. Like Blackburn, he doesn't throw exceptionally hard (89.9 mph average on his fastball) and doesn't strike many people out (6.8 per nine innings). Unlike Blackburn, though, Slowey gives up a lot of fly balls (1.4 fly balls for every ground ball), which means he'll also give up a fair number of home runs (1.5/9 over the course of his career). He's having a rough go of it lately: He's gone 5.2 innings or less in each of his last five starts (and seven of eight on the season), and posted a 6.31 ERA in his last five outings.
Like Blackburn, Slowey has a good fastball (89.9 mph, +0.22 runs per 100), and a slider, curve and change that are all below average. Four Brewers have faced him ten times or more:
| Player | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Ryan Braun | 14 | .154 | .143 | .154 | .297 |
| Corey Hart | 14 | .214 | .214 | .429 | .643 |
| Prince Fielder | 12 | .182 | .250 | .273 | .523 |
| Craig Counsell | 10 | .222 | .300 | .444 | .744 |
For the Brewers, Yovani Gallardo (4-2, 2.89) comes into today's start on a seven game unbeaten streak, going 4-0 over that stretch with a 1.76 ERA. Also worth noting, though, is the fact that Gallardo has only pitched past the sixth inning twice all year. Despite his sub-3.00 ERA, the Brewers are 4-5 when Gallardo starts. And, of course, efficiency has been a concern: Even while posting a 1.76 ERA over his last seven starts, Gallardo has needed nearly 19 pitches per inning of work.
Orlando Hudson is the only current Twin who's faced Gallardo before - he's 2-for-7 with a pair of singles.
Adam McCalvy reports that Ryan Braun is today's DH, opening the door for Joe Inglett to get his second straight start:
Rickie Weeks 2B
Carlos Gomez CF
Ryan Braun DH
Prince Fielder 1B
Casey McGehee 3B
Corey Hart RF
Joe Inglett LF
Alcides Escobar SS
George Kottaras C
And in the bullpen:
Jeff Suppan pitched 3.2 innings (59 pitches) yesterday.
Claudio Vargas pitched 2 innings (38 pitches) yesterday.
Mitch Stetter pitched .1 innings (26 pitches) yesterday.
Todd Coffey pitched 1.2 innings (12 pitches) yesterday.
John Axford pitched 2 innings (39 pitches) Thursday
Carlos Villanueva pitched 1 inning (12 pitches) Thursday.
Marco Estrada pitched 4 innings (55 pitches) Tuesday.
Trevor Hoffman threw 14 pitches on Tuesday.
Enjoy the game!