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Cecil takes the hill against Twins

Apr 3, 2011 - 2:57 PM (Sports Network) - Lefty Brett Cecil can continue the momentum he began in his initial two major league stints today, when he opens his 2011 season in the finale of a three-game series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins at Rogers Centre.

A 2007 draft pick of the Blue Jays, Cecil made an impact with seven wins in 18 games for Toronto in 2009, then became a solid full-time contributor last season when he went 15-7 and posted a 4.22 ERA across 28 starts and 172 2/3 innings .

Cecil has won both of his career starts against the Twins while surrendering 11 hits and three runs in 13 innings.

Minnesota counters with right-hander Nick Blackburn, who reached double-digit wins for the third straight season in 2010. After winning 11 games in both 2008 and 2009, Blackburn was 10-12 with the Twins, while making 28 appearances - 26 starts - in the big leagues last season.

Blackburn's given up 677 hits and struck out 270 batters in 571 2/3 major- league innings.

Blackburn is 0-1 with a 2.63 in two career starts against Toronto.

On Saturday, rookie Kyle Drabek took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and the Blue Jays stymied the Twins, 6-1.

Drabek (1-0), who came over from Philadelphia in December 2009 as part of the Roy Halladay trade, allowed only one hit, walked three and struck out seven in seven innings to pick up his first major league win.

Shawn Camp and Marc Rzepczynski both tossed a scoreless inning of relief and helped limit Minnesota to one hit.

Jose Molina and Jayson Nix crushed solo home runs for Toronto, which opened the John Farrell era as manager with a 13-3 win on Friday.

Francisco Liriano (0-1) gave up four runs on four hits and walked five in 4 1/3 innings for the Twins, who mustered only a Denard Span single.

Toronto was 6-3 against the Twins last season and is 19-6 in the series since the start of the 2008 campaign. However, four of Minnesota's six wins in that time have come north of the border.