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Indians-Twins Preview

Sep 15, 2009 - 9:39 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Cleveland (61-82) at Minnesota (72-72), 8:10 p.m. EDT

The Minnesota Twins have learned that Justin Morneau's season is over. Scott Baker can partially pick up his club's spirits Tuesday night if can dominate the Cleveland Indians again.

After learning the bad news about their top slugger, the Twins will send Baker to the mound as he tries to improve to 5-0 against the Indians.

Morneau's season is over because of a stress fracture in his lower back, the Twins announced Monday. The first baseman leads Minnesota (72-72) with 30 homers and 100 RBIs despite batting .201 since the All-Star break.

Morneau hurt himself on a headfirst slide into first base Friday, but had been playing with pain much longer than that. He said he often felt a sharp discomfort during the follow-through on his swing, and a CT scan Monday revealed the stress fracture.

"It's definitely going to make it a lot tougher for us, but hopefully it's one of those things that brings us closer together as a team," right fielder Jason Kubel said.

Kubel was on the bench Monday for the second straight game because of a sore neck, but hit a two-run homer as a pinch hitter in the eighth to cap a six-run rally for a 6-3 victory to open this three-game set.

"It's fun to see those guys keep battling. That's kind of how this team is," Morneau said.

Michael Cuddyer hit a tying three-run homer earlier in the eighth inning for Minnesota, which remained 5 1/2 games behind first-place Detroit in the AL Central race. The Twins host the Tigers for three games this weekend.

Baker (13-8, 4.33 ERA) has posted a 0.93 ERA in winning all four of his starts against Cleveland this season, and is 3-1 with a 1.74 ERA in six career home starts versus the Indians.

The right-hander is trying to get back on the winning track after suffering his first loss since July 7 on Thursday. He yielded three runs over 6 2-3 innings at Toronto in a 3-2 loss.

Baker had been 7-0 with a 3.04 ERA in his previous 11 outings.

The Indians (61-82) have lost six of seven overall, but have split 16 games against the Twins this season. Young relievers Tony Sipp and Chris Perez combined to allow all six runs and only got one out Monday.

"As tough as it is for them right now, they've got something they can learn from," manager Eric Wedge said. "They're going to be in that situation time and time again, and they should be better for it."

Cleveland starter Fausto Carmona (3-10, 6.48) will look to avoid another poor outing against the Twins on Tuesday. He is 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA in three outings versus Minnesota in 2009.

The right-hander failed to get out of the first inning Wednesday against Texas, allowing five runs and recording two outs in a 10-0 loss. Carmona is 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA in his last three starts.