Kevin Slowey said his struggles on Thursday were similar to his last start at the Dome. The difference is that he made adjustments at the Dome but kept overthrowing against the Tigers on Thursdays.

All of the Tigers’ run-scoring hits - all - came on pitches that Mike Redmond had to reach out of his target zone for.

“My teammates played well without me and our bullpen did and we hit well,” Slowey said. “I just didn’t hold up my end of it.”

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire noted how Detroit starter Kenny Rogers threw softer in tough situations while his young pitchers throw harder. Slowey agreed. “I have to slow down and let pitches take care of themselves.”

Francisco Liriano had his third straight strong start tonight, shutting out Durham for seven innings on three hits with a walk and eight strikeouts. He’s now 7-2 with a 3.53 ERA. He threw 87 pitches.

If my math is correct, Liriano has walked three and struck out 24 over his last three starts. And he’s on a run of 21.1 scoreless innings.

That looks a lot like the stretch the Twins wanted to see before they would consider calling him up.  Since he pitched tonight I can’t get reaction to his outing from the club, but I talked to one person at the park today and got the sense that they still wanted to see an extended strong run from him. How long that is I’m unsure.

For the conspiracy theorists, my rough math shows that Liriano should be outside the range of service time needed to qualify for Super-2 arbitration status.

Even if the Twins decided tomorrow that they want Liriano up, who leaves the rotation? I know what you’re thinking: Livan.

There are no signs the Twins are giving up on Hernandez (9-6, 5.44 ERA) , who was hit hard again in Boston on Wednesday. It’s not what you want to hear but that’s the way it is. There are pitchers in baseball who would commit crimes to have nine wins before the All-Star break like Hernandez does. And his problem has mostly been on the road: He’s 7-1 at home.

Hernandez said after Wednesday’s game that he’s usually a second half pitcher - which is true and not so true.

For his career, he’s 80-76 with a 4.56 ERA before the break and 63-58, 3.99 after. Last year, he was 6-6, 5.44 after the break, which isn’t good. In 2006, he was 7-5, 3.61 after the break, which is acceptable.

So I don’t know what to think about Livan’s second half this year. But I do see the Twins giving him several more starts. He’d have to go on a Sidney Ponson-Ramon Ortiz run of negativity before I would expect a change.

Nick Punto is batting .320 but his name in this part of the country might as well be Skoula.

He deserved every boo he got last year when he batted .210. But now it’s time to admit that he’s more like the 2006 version who hit 290. His latest highlight-worthy defensive play came in the second inning today when he hooked up with Justin Morneau for a nifty 3-6 double play.

And Gardenhire said before today’s game that Punto pretty much is an everyday player now. Punto and Casilla cover a lot of ground up the middle. “I like him out there,” Gardenhire said.

Finally, Michael Cuddyer resisted the temptation of going to one of the 73 casinos in this area. He was headed to the movies to see either Hancock or Wall-E. I expect a review tomorrow.

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