CHICAGO — Joe Mauer is getting an expected break tonight, with the Twins facing White Sox lefthander Mark Buehrle. This will be Mike Redmond’s fifth game at catcher.

Tough to sit Mauer considering he is batting .407 over his past 16 games. But the Twins have a day game tomorrow and will face lefthander John Danks. As they enter a stretch of 20 straight games, Mauer was going to sit one of these two games.

For his career against Buehrle, Redmond is batting .474 (9-for-19), compared to .267 (4-for-15) for Mauer.

Update (5:30 p.m.): Manager Ron Gardenhire has had flight delays coming from Tulsa, Okla., and isn’t expected at the ballpark until at least mid-game.

Kevin Slowey is here and looking forward to Thursday’s start. He had nine strikeouts in five innings in his last start for Class AAA Rochester and said his right biceps muscle is pain-free.

Glen Perkins will likely join the Twins in Minnesota on Friday, but pitching coach Rick Anderson said a roster move won’t be announced until after Friday night’s game.

Twins (16-15)

1. Carlos Gomez, CF

2. Brendan Harris, 2B

3. Craig Monroe, DH

4. Justin Morneau, 1B

5. Michael Cuddyer, RF

6. Delmon Young, LF

7. Mike Redmond, C

8. Matt Tolbert, 3B

9. Nick Punto, SS

Starting pitcher: RH Livan Hernandez

White Sox (15-16)

1. Orlando Cabrera, SS

2. Carlos Quentin, LF

3. Jim Thome, DH

4. Paul Konerko, 1B

5. Jermaine Dye, RF

6. A.J. Pierzynski, C

7. Nick Swisher, CF

8. Joe Crede, 3B

9. Juan Uribe, 2B

Starting pitcher: LH Mark Buehrle

U.S. Cellular Field. First pitch: 7:11 p.m.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 3:45 pm and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.