The Oakland Athletics and Minnesota Twins square off in the second game of their three game series, with the A’s looking to even the series at one game apiece. The A’s send out fireballer Gio Gonzalez to face Twins righty Nick Blackburn. The Twins sit as a slight favorite in today’s matchup.
The A’s will be sending out the same lineup as yesterday, which is a lineup that is expected to occupy the field for most of the season. Today’s matchup against Nick Blackburn features a couple of favorable matchups. David DeJesus has faced Blackburn 24 times and in those at bats he has a line of .524/.583/.857. Mark Ellis has faced Blackburn 14 times and has a line of .462/.500/1.000. On the other side of things, Daric Barton has faced Blackburn 20 times and has a line of .167/.250/.333.
Oakland Athletics
1. Coco Crisp, CF
2. Daric Barton, 1B
3. David DeJesus, RF
4. Josh Willingham, LF
5. Hideki Matsui, DH
6. Kurt Suzuki, C
7. Mark Ellis, 2B
8. Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B
9. Cliff Pennington, SS
The Twins have much less experience against Gonzalez. Denard Span and Delmon Young are the only two players with double digit plate appearances against Gio. Span is hitting .400/.538/.600 in 13 plate appearances, while Young is hitting .300/.300/.300 in 10 plate appearances.
Minnesota Twins
1. Denard Span, CF
2. Joe Mauer, C
3. Justin Morneau, 1B
4. Delmon Young, LF
5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
6. Jason Kubel, DH
7. Danny Valencia, 3B
8. Luke Hughes, 2B
9. Alexi Casilla, SS