Francisco Liriano will make his second start since returning to the rotation when the Minnesota Twins face the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday.
Liriano, 1-5, was relegated to the bullpen after a frightful start to the season. Through six starts, he was 0-5 with a 9.45 ERA. At that point he had 21 strikeouts and 19 walks and hadn't given up fewer than four runs in any start.
But the move to the pen seems to have helped. He allowed zero earned runs in his first four relief appearances, and in his return to the rotation on May 30, he pitched 6.0 innings with nine K's and zero earned runs.
The Royals will put lefty Bruce Chen on the hill. Chen is 4-5 with a 4.86 ERA, but he has won four of this last five starts.
The Royals, who are the only team in the Majors with a worse home record than the Twins, are 2.5 games ahead of Minnesota in the AL Central.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 Central.
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