CLEVELAND — The Twins will try to snap their four-game losing streak tonight, facing Cleveland lefthander Cliff Lee.

Lee is 13-2, but one of those losses came against the Twins, on July 6.

The Twins will counter with Livan Hernandez, their last pitcher to win a game. That came last Saturday against Texas.

It won’t get easier for the Twins, as they’ll face righthander Fausto Carmona on Saturday. Lefty Jeremy Sowers throws for Cleveland on Sunday. Then, the Twins will head home for a four-game series with the first-place White Sox.

Chicago is scheduled to start Mark Buehrle in the first game of that set. So between Lee, Sowers and Buerhle, the Twins will face three lefthanders in their next four games.

They are 14-14 this season against lefthanded starters and 41-32 against righties.

Updates to come…

Update (4:50 p.m.): Nothing has changed with Francisco Liriano, and nothing new is planned. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Liriano will make his next start for Class AAA Rochester on Sunday.

“He’s not here,” Gardenhire said. “I don’t think he’s going to opt out of it. I think that’s his rotation spot, and that’s where he’ll be pitched. I can only control my guys here. I can’t control those things.”

There was no update on Michael Cuddyer’s hand injury either, though the word is that he’s feeling better.

Twins (55-46)

1. Denard Span, RF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Delmon Young, LF
6. Craig Monroe, DH
7. Brendan Harris, 3B
8. Nick Punto, SS
9. Carlos Gomez, CF

Starting pitcher: RH Livan Hernandez

Indians (44-56)

1. Grady Sizemore, CF
2. Jamey Carroll, 2B
3. Ben Francisco, LF
4. Jhonny Peralta, SS
5. Shin-Soo Choo, DH
6. Casey Blake, 3B
7. Kelly Shoppach, C
8. Ryan Garko, 1B
9. Franklin Gutierrez, RF

Starting pitcher: LH Cliff Lee

Progressive Field. First pitch: 6:05 p.m.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 2:52 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.