Minnesota Twins Game 59: Lineups and First Impressions

Tonight the Minnesota Twins welcome the Houston Astros to Target Field.  In what appears to be the marquee game of the series, the Twins come in splitting their last ten while the Astros have gone 7-3 through their last 10.  On the mound for the Astros will be Dallas Keuchel, sporting an impressive 2.70 ERA to lead a very young Houston team.  Opposing him will be leading Twins All-Star pitching candidate, Phil Hughes.

Some intriguing storylines pop up tonight with the Astros having recently called up their stud first base prospect, Jonathan Singleton, and fellow top prospect George Springer making his Target Field debut.  The Minnesota Twins will look to continue to ride the hot arm of Hughes as well as the flaming bat of Josh Willingham.

Let’s take a look at how both teams are set to line up:

Houston Astros (26-35):

1. Dexter Fowler CF

2. Jose Altuve 2B

3.George Springer RF

4.Jason Castro C

5.Matt Dominguez 3B

6.Jonathan Singleton 1B

7.Chris Carter DH

8.Robbie Grosman LF

9.Marwin Gonzalez SS

Minnesota Twins (28-30):

1.Danny Santana DH

2.Brian Dozier 2B

3. Joe Mauer 3B

4. Josh Willingham LF

5. Trevor Plouffe 3B

6. Jason Kubel RF

7. Kurt Suzuki C

8. Eduardo Escobar SS

9. Aaron Hicks CF

First Impressions:

• Ron Gardenhire is taking an interesting approach having Santana DH tonight.  Tabbed the shortstop of the future, it doesn’t seem to make sense he wouldn’t be getting reps there.  If you absolutely must have Escobar in the lineup, why not have him DH?
• Nice to see Aaron Hicks back in center field.  His struggles have been well noted, but the fact remains that he needs to develop somewhere, and if not on the farm, he needs to be in the lineup with the big club.
• No Josmil Pinto tonight after two straight starts, also, Oswaldo Arcia is out of the lineup after having sprained his ankle in last night’s ball game.
• The Astros have all of their future studs in the lineup and twins fans will be able to get their first glimpse of Springer and Singleton tonight.
• Houston is rolling with Marwin Gonzalez at short tonight instead of Jonathan Villar.  Villar has missed time due to an elbow injury but was a candidate to play tonight.

Game Time:

Tonight’s first pitch is set for 7:10 pm Central.  With current sun the game looks to get underway before the apparent thunderstorms are set to roll in.  On Snoopy All-Star Figurine night, the game will be televised on Fox Sports North and can be heard on the Twins Radio Network.