The Minnesota Twins managed just three hits on Tuesday night, squandering a very good start by Francisco Liriano in his return to the mound as they lost to the Cleveland Indians by a score of 1-0 at Progressive Field.
Cleveland's lone run was unearned, coming courtesy of a defensive lapse by Delmon Young, but the Twins did nothing against Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco, who allowed only three hits and a walk to Minnesota in 8.1 innings. Liriano allowed only three hits in five innings of work to go with the one unearned run, and also struck out seven hitters on the evening.
The Twins will hope to provide more run support to Carl Pavano (3-5, 4.83 ERA) on Wednesday in the series finale. Pavano pitched well in his last start, pitching a complete game in Kansas City against the Royals on Friday in a 5-2 Twins victory. It was Pavano's first victory in quite a while, and he will be looking to run the streak to two in a row against Cleveland.
The Indians will counter with right-hander Justin Masterson (5-3, 3.07 ERA). Masterson was not particularly good in his last start, allowing ten hits to the Texas Rangers (though he allowed only four runs) in what turned out to be an 11-2 Rangers victory.
First pitch from Progressive Field is scheduled for 11:05 AM Central time. . .yes, that's before noon, if you were sleeping in or something. Be sure to check out Twinkie Town's Game Thread for the in-game action, and come back here for a recap of all of the day's happenings.