After watching his team flourish from the plate and tally 19 runs on the scoreboard in Monday's win, Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire is hoping that lightning can strike twice, and will run with the exact same lineup in Tuesday's game.
Every last one of Minnesota's nine starters scored a run in the 19-5 shellacking of the Orioles to kick off the four-game set, and Gardenhire made the wise decision to send the same unit out against Baltimore starter Zach Britton in game two. A shoulder injury prevented Britton from opening the year on the active roster, and 24-year-old left-hander will be making his first start of 2012 after toeing the rubber 28 times for the Orioles a year ago.
Entering Tuesday's game with a 14-game hitting streak, Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe will hope to continue his head-turning stretch from the plate. Now tied for 12th in baseball with 19 home runs, Plouffe's .535 slugging percentage currently ranks above the likes of Carlos Beltran, Curtis Granderson, Jose Bautista, and Adam Dunn at the moment.
Here are the starting lineups for game two:
Twins
1. Denard Span - CF
2. Ben Revere - RF
3. Joe Mauer - C
4. Josh Willingham - LF
5. Justin Morneau - 1B
6. Trevor Plouffe - 3B
7. Ryan Doumit - DH
8. Brian Dozier - SS
9. Jamey Carroll - 2B
Samuel Deduno - SP
Orioles
1. Nick Markakis - RF
2. J.J. Hardy - SS
3. Jim Thome - DH
4. Adam Jones - CF
5. Matt Wieters - C
6. Mark Reynolds - 1B
7. Chris Davis - LF
8. Wilson Betemit - 3B
9. Ryan Flaherty - 2B
Zach Britton - SP
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