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Indians-Twins Preview

Sep 14, 2009 - 12:25 AM By DAN PIERINGER STATS Writer

Cleveland (61-80) at Minnesota (70-72), 8:10 p.m. EDT

Mired in an offensive slump that was putting their playoff hopes in serious jeopardy, the Minnesota Twins needed an offensive boost. It finally came from a likely candidate in major league batting leader Joe Mauer.

After leading the team to its best day at the plate in three weeks, Mauer looks to help the Twins improve their still slim postseason chances again Monday night when they host the Cleveland Indians.

Minnesota (71-72) has failed to take advantage of the inconsistent play of AL Central-leading Detroit lately because of its own problems in the batter's box. The Twins averaged 3.1 runs while losing seven of 10 from Sept. 2-12.

But the Twins broke out of their funk at the plate with an 8-0 win over Oakland on Sunday, avoiding a three-game sweep. Mauer led the effort with three hits, including his 27th home run - more than double his previous career high of 13, set in 2006.

Mauer, leading the majors with a .366 average, drove in two runs and scored twice as Minnesota recorded its highest run total since Aug. 23.

"We needed this pretty desperately and we got it today," manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Gardenhire's club remained 5 1/2 games behind the first-place Tigers.

"We've teetered, 'Are we in? Are we out?' But we're still in," Gardenhire told the Twins' official Web site.

The Twins have good reason to believe Mauer have another big night against the Indians. The three-time All-Star is batting .489 with two homers, seven RBIs and 11 runs scored in 12 games against Cleveland this season. Minnesota, though, is 5-7 in those contests.

After Sunday's performance, Minnesota hopes to avoid the same kind of letdown Cleveland suffered in its last game. After scoring 13 runs with 17 hits in a blowout victory Saturday, the Indians totaled two hits in a 7-0 loss to Kansas City on Sunday.

"We didn't do a good job (at the plate) at all," manager Eric Wedge told the Indians' official Web site. "We didn't make any adjustments. We had a lot of young outs, young at-bats and a lot of at-bats that were just poor."

Wedge hopes his offense has a better showing in support of Jeremy Sowers (6-9, 4.78 ERA), who'll make his second consecutive start against Minnesota on Monday. The left-hander, who's won his last three road decisions after dropping his first four, held the Twins to two runs in six innings to get a 5-2 home victory Sept. 4.

Twins pitcher Carl Pavano (12-11, 4.92) suffered that defeat after giving up four runs in six innings against the team with which he started this season. The Indians dealt the right-hander to the Twins on Aug. 7.

Pavano rebounded by allowing one run in 7 1-3 innings to beat Toronto 4-1 on Wednesday, improving to 3-3 with a 3.65 ERA in seven starts since the trade. He's 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA lifetime against Cleveland.

Twins shortstop Orlando Cabrera, batting .308 in 12 games against the Indians this season, has hit .412 with three doubles lifetime against Sowers.