Minnesota Twins Game 105: Lineups and First Impressions

The Minnesota Twins head to Kansas City tonight to face off in the first of a three game set with the division rival Royals.  Fresh off dropping three out of four to the Chicago White Sox, the Twins will be looking for an offensive revival.  Once again it was a combined effort of lack of pitching as well as runs the doomed the Twins.

Tonight with Kyle Gibson on the mound for Minnesota, the Twins will be looking for a quality start after the young right hander missed his previous two.  He will be opposed by the staff ace, James Shields, for the Royals.

Here is how both teams will line up:

Minnesota Twins (47-57)

Danny Santana CF

Sam Fuld RF

Brian Dozier 2B

Josh Willingham LF

Chris Parmelee 1B

Trevor Plouffe 3B

Kurt Suzuki C

Eduardo Nunez DH

Eduardo Escobar SS

Kansas City Royals (53-51)

Nori Aoki RF

Omar Infante 2B

Eric Hosmer 1B

Salvador Perez C

Alex Gordon LF

Billy Butler DH

Mike Moustakas 3B

Lorenzo Cain CF

Alcides Escobar SS

First Impressions:

• With Gibson having missed his last two starts and being spelled by Logan Darnell most recently, will he have some rust or will we see a strong performance tonight?  Against Shields, he will need it.
• Sam Fuld draws the start in right tonight with the Twins finding themselves without the services of Oswaldo Arcia due to the birth of his son.
• Eduardo Nunez as a DH tonight should show how strapped the Twins are on options, with only two bats on the bench, Eric Fryer and Chris Colabello.

Game Details:

First pitch is schedule for 7:10 pm central time, and the game can be seen on Fox Sports North.  On the radio, check out the Twins Radio Network