Minnesota Twins Game 131: Lineups and First Impressions

The Minnesota Twins are set to take on the Kansas City Royals tonight at Kauffman Stadium.  Fresh off a series split with the AL Central’s Detroit Tigers, the Twins will look to make another strong offensive statement.  After getting hit around Target Field just a little over a week ago by the Royals, Minnesota will look to bounce back.

On the mound tonight for the Twins will be Ricky Nolasco.  Still scuffling since coming off the DL, Nolasco will be looking to get back on track.  For the Royals, Danny Duffy will get the start.

Minnesota Twins (58-72)

Danny Santana CF

Brian Dozier 2B

Joe Mauer 1B

Kennys Vargas DH

Oswaldo Arcia RF

Trevor Plouffe 3B

Kurt Suzuki C

Eduardo Escobar SS

Jordan Schafer LF

Kansas City Royals (72-58)

Jarrod Dyson CF

Alcides Escobar SS

Alex Gordon LF

Billy Butler 1B

Salvador Perez C

Josh Willingham DH

Mike Moustakas 3B

Lorenzo Cain RF

Christian Colon 2B

First Impressions:

• Danny Santana is still manning center field.  He is likely a huge regression candidate next year as his projectibles are lower than how he has performed this season, however, it would be nice to get a gauge as to what kind of shortstop he is.
• The Twins heart of the order has really rounded into a nice little trio the past couple of weeks.
• The Royals have moved Escobar up to second in the order, not sure if that is an effort to jumpstart his bat or because Christian Colon is getting the rare start tonight.
• The Twins have to face Josh Willingham on his new turf for the first time tonight, he burned them plenty in his return to Target Field.

Game Details:

First pitch tonight is scheduled for 7:10pm central time.  The game can be seen on Fox Sports North and heard on the Twins Radio Network.