SAN DIEGO — One lineup change for the Twins today: Mike Redmond replaces Joe Mauer at catcher.

Standard protocol there with a day game after a night game.

Otherwise, Gardy is sticking with the lineup that built this eight-game winning streak.

After facing four Cy Young Award winners in the past five games, today’s matchup might look like a break, but Padres righthander Josh Banks has been very impressive since the Padres claimed him off waivers from Toronto on April 23.

That 1.62 ERA speaks for itself. The Twins’ scouting report says he throws seven or eight different pitches, so this should be interesting.

Update (3:50 p.m.): Twins prospects Denard Span and Luke Hughes have been picked to play in the All-Star Futures Game on July 13 at Yankee Stadium. Span will play for Team USA and Hughes, who hails from Australia, will play for the World Team.

This year, Team USA will be the U.S. Olympic Trial team. That means Span has been named to a list of about 60 players who are eligible for the Olympics. That’s a nice honor, but in his situation, he won’t be going to the Olympics. He is one phone call away from rejoining the Twins, especially if one of the starting outfielders gets hurt.

Twins (42-36)

1. Carlos Gomez, CF

2. Alexi Casilla, 2B

3. Mike Redmond, C

4. Justin Morneau, 1B

5. Michael Cuddyer, RF

6. Jason Kubel, LF (typo earlier had him at 1B)

7. Brendan Harris, SS

8. Brian Buscher, 3B

9. Scott Baker, P

Padres (32-47)

1. Jody Gerut, CF

2. Craig Stansberry, 2B

3. Brian Giles, RF

4. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B

5. Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B

6. Chase Headley, LF

7. Khalil Greene, SS

8. Luke Carlin, C

9. Josh Banks, P

Petco Park. First pitch: 2:35 p.m.

SAN DIEGO — Before batting practice Wednesday, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire gave a one-on-one tutorial for second baseman Alexi Casilla, who had been struggling to catch grounders when extending to his backhand side.

Gardenhire said he had Casilla get into a diving position, flat on the ground, so he could fire baseballs at his glove, letting Casilla work on the proper technique.

Sure enough, Edgar Gonzalez led off the fifth inning with a sharp bouncer up the middle. Casilla made a terrific diving stop, reaching out to make a backhanded catch and then throwing to first for the out.

That’s how things are going for the Twins, who defeated the Padres 9-3, extending their winning streak to eight games.

Afterward, Gardenhire downplayed the pregame session with Casilla.

“That was like Lesson 101 and 102, but he went to like 108 with that catch,” Gardenhire said. “I didn’t work on that one. He made a heck of a play.”

Error reversed

We’ve written a lot about the pitching and hitting during this winning streak, but the defense has been pretty good, too.

Justin Morneau was originally charged with two errors tonight. The first one was later reversed. It came in the fourth inning, when he missed a pop foul from Michael Barrett. The official scorer (correctly, in my opinion) later decided that it was too tough of a play for an error.

Then in the ninth, Brendan Harris fielded a grounder from Barrett and threw to first base. It looked like the game’s final out, but Morneau missed the ball.

The reason? The ball went right through the webbing of Morneau’s glove. He had to get another one from the dugout to finish the inning.

Were it not for the broken glove, Twins relievers would have turned in four perfect innings. Brian Bass pitched a 1-2-3 sixth and seventh, Craig Breslow did the same in the eighth, and Boof Bonser was headed there in the ninth.

It was funny at the end, as a throng of Twins fans were crowding the front rows in a mostly empty stadium, yelling, “Boooooooooof!”

On Thursday, the Twins have a chance to move into first place.

SAN DIEGO — The Twins will put their seven-game winning streak on the line tonight against Padres righthander Greg Maddux, who has 350 career wins.

Check out all the lefthanded hitters in the Twins’ lineup.

Updates to come…

Update (8:20 p.m.): No injury, roster or lineup news to report. With the team on a roll, Gardy is hardly going to tinker with the lineup.

You may have seen this by now, but Francisco Liriano improved to 4-2 for Class AAA Rochester today, despite giving up six runs (five earned) on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.

He allowed two home runs, walked one and struck out three, leaving his ERA at 4.44.

The report said his fastball was again clocked from 88-93 miles per hour.

Update (9:25 p.m.): The Twins just announced that they have signed pitcher Shooter Hunt, their sandwich-round pick (No. 31 overall) in last month’s draft. Hunt pitched for Tulane University and has drawn comparisons to Scott Baker.

He will report to Elizabethton.

Twins (41-36)

1. Carlos Gomez, CF

2. (S) Alexi Casilla, 2B

3. (L) Joe Mauer, C

4. (L) Justin Morneau, 1B

5. Michael Cuddyer, RF

6. (L) Jason Kubel, LF

7. (L) Brian Buscher, 3B

8. Brendan Harris, SS

9. (L) Glen Perkins, P

Padres (32-45)

1. Scott Hairston, CF

2. Edgar Gonzalez, 2B

3. Brian Giles, RF

4. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B

5. Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B

6. Chase Headley, LF

7. Khalil Greene, SS

8. Michael Barrett, C

9. Greg Maddux, P

Petco Park. First pitch: 9:05 p.m.

SAN DIEGO — Kevin Slowey gave the Twins their 10th consecutive quality start on Tuesday, and the team extended its winning streak to seven games with a 3-1 victory over the Padres.

Some people dismiss the quality start stat — at least six innings pitched, three or fewer earned runs allowed. But the Twins are 9-1 in this stretch.

This wasn’t just quality for Slowey. This was magnificent. Six innings, no runs, four hits, no walks, seven strikeouts.

In my game story, I have Manager Ron Gardenhire’s explanation for pulling Slowey with 92 pitches after six innings.

Remember, Slowey was on the disabled list for 3 1/2 weeks with a strained right biceps earlier this season. Asked how he felt after 92 pitches this time, he said:

“I felt fine. After being injured early in the year, I’ve done a lot of little things differently between starts with Perry [Castellano], our strength and conditioning guy. I still don’t think I’m going to be able to throw 95-97 [mph] but it feels great.”

Short hops

* Justin Morneau went 2-for-3, extended his hitting streak to 12 games.

* The Padres are 8-17 against lefthanded starting pitchers heading into Wednesday’s game against Twins lefty Glen Perkins.

SAN DIEGO — The Twins have a six-game winning streak, but tonight, they’ll face reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, Jake Peavy, as they begin a three-game series against the Padres.

Nick Punto is back from the disabled list, but he is not in the starting lineup.

Updates to come…

Update (7:55 p.m.): Manager Ron Gardenhire said he met with Mike Lamb on the last homestand and explained the situation. Lamb has not played in seven games and he is not in the lineup tonight.

“He’s been there before,” Gardenhire said. “He’s sat on the bench and done those things, and I’ll get him into this series some way or another, pinch hitting or whatever, try to mix him in here. I know I’ve got to use him, and he needs to play and all those things. We’re jurst trying to ride this thing as long as we can and go from there.”

The players are marveling at how beautiful this ballpark is, and how beautiful San Diego is in general.  Right field will be an adventure for Michael Cuddyer, however. A section of seats juts out from the foul pole, and balls hit into that corner are very tough to judge.

Gardenhire stood with Cuddyer in right field during early batting practice.

“I told Mike, ‘Good luck,’” Gardy said.

Also, the Padres have had a terrible time preventing the stolen base. That will be a critical element to this series. The Twins need Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla to do some damage out there, but first they need to get on first base.

“I think that’ll depend on the starting pitchers that they’re throwing,” Gardenhire said.

Peavy, Greg Maddux and sudden stalwart Josh Banks. That’s a tough draw for the Twins.

Twins (40-36)

1. Carlos Gomez, CF

2. Alexi Casilla, 2B

3. Joe Mauer, C

4. Justin Morneau, 1B

5. Michael Cuddyer, RF

6. Jason Kubel, LF

7. Brendan Harris, SS

8. Brian Buscher, 3B

9. Kevin Slowey, P

Padres (32-45)

1. Jody Gerut, CF

2. Edgar Gonzalez, 2B

3. Brian Giles, RF

4. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B

5. Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B

6. Chase Headley, LF

7. Khalil Greene, SS

8. Michael Barrett, C

9. Jake Peavy, P

Petco Park. First pitch: 9:05 p.m.