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Twins-Royals Preview

Jul 28, 2010 - 5:48 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Minnesota (54-46) at Kansas City (42-57), 2:10 p.m. EDT

Danny Valencia entered this series against the Kansas City Royals with five career RBIs in 27 games. He's surpassed that in the past two nights.

The rookie third baseman hopes to continue his surge Wednesday afternoon when the Minnesota Twins go for the sweep at Kauffman Stadium.

Minnesota (55-46) has scored 30 runs in winning the first two games, with Valencia posting four-hit efforts each time. His first career homer was a grand slam in Tuesday's 19-1 rout, and he added three RBIs in Wednesday's 11-2 victory.

Valencia, a 19th-round selection by the Twins in 2006, is 14 for 19 over his last four games. He's 13 for 21 against the Royals (42-58), including his first career multihit effort with three on June 8.

"This is rare. It's definitely rare," Valencia said. "It's great to have, but it's something that probably could never come again. It's been a great time for me and it's been a great time for the team. We've been winning, and you couldn't ask for anything more."

The Twins have 39 hits in the series, seven by Joe Mauer. The catcher went 5 for 5 on Tuesday with a career-high seven RBIs and drove in two more runs Wednesday.

Minnesota has totaled 40 runs and 58 hits in scoring in double digits in three straight games for the first time since June 11-13, 1967.

The last three contests for the Royals have conversely been ugly. Never in their history had they allowed this many runs (42) and hits (53) in three consecutive games.

"The problem that we're running into is we're throwing too many pitches. We're not commanding the ball down in the zone," manager Ned Yost said. "We're not making quality pitches. The pitch counts are rising way up and we're overexposing (the bullpen). Those guys are in there every day. It runs into problems."

The Twins have won four straight, and are one game behind the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central.

Brian Duensing (3-1, 1.69 ERA) will make his second start for Minnesota since replacing an ineffective Nick Blackburn in the rotation. Duensing allowed one run over five innings Friday and did not get a decision in a 3-2 loss at Baltimore in his first 2010 start - a 66-pitch outing.

The left-hander made one start against the Royals last year on Aug. 22, allowing one run in five innings to earn his first career victory in an 8-7 win. He has a 3.38 ERA in five relief appearances against them this year.

Minnesota looks to take advantage of struggling Brian Bannister (7-9, 5.73), who is 0-4 with a 7.07 ERA in his last five outings. He lasted 4 2-3 innings and gave up four runs - all in the first inning - Friday in a 7-1 loss at Yankee Stadium.

The right-hander should be helped by the afternoon start time since he's 4-1 with a 3.05 ERA in seven day outings compared to 2-6 with a 7.10 ERA in 11 at night.

Bannister allowed two runs over 6 1-3 innings to earn a 4-3 win over the Twins on April 25. He had been 0-4 with a 6.82 ERA in his previous six starts against them.