The Minnesota Twins, coming off of an ugly 1-5 home stand that saw them lose virtually all hope of climbing back in to the AL Central race, will travel to the home of the second place Indians to open a three game series.
Of course, all eyes remain focused on Jim Thome as he pursues 600 career home runs, but the Twins are also getting back two more key components of their offense.
The first one is Alexi Casilla, who has been sidelined since the series at Texas, suffered a pulled hamstring and was placed on the 15 fay disabled list. On the year, Casilla is hitting .259, with 2 home runs, 21 RBI, and he also has 15 stolen bases.
But the big news is the return of former MVP Justin Morneau, who has been sidelined since early June with a wrist and then a neck injury. It will be the first time since April 12th that both Morneau and Joe Mauer have been in the lineup together this season, and they have only played in the same game nine times since last July, when Morneau suffered his season ending concussion in Toronto.
The pitching match up has Carl Pavano (6-9, 4.71) going against right hander Justin Masterson (9-7, 2.71).
First pitch is at 6:05.