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Twins open set with visiting Blue Jays

May 13, 2011 - 2:46 PM (Sports Network) - Two early-season also-rans in the American League try again to get things going tonight when the Minnesota Twins host the Toronto Blue Jays to start a three-game series at Target Field.

The teams played three games in April to start the season, with the Blue Jays taking two at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The quick start did little to help the Blue Jays, who find themselves three games below .500 and five games off the pace set by the first-place Tampa Bay Rays atop the AL East.

The Twins, meanwhile, have tumbled from a division championship to the cellar in the AL Central and already trail the front-running Cleveland Indians by 10 1/2 games.

Minnesota has lost five in a row, including a 9-7 decision to visiting Detroit in the finale of a three-game sweep on Wednesday.

Jason Kubel had a three-run homer and drove in four for the Twins.

Starter Scott Baker lasted only 4 1/3 innings, getting touched for five runs on six hits and five walks with six strikeouts, but did not factor in the decision.

Veteran Carl Pavano gets tonight's call for Minnesota and will face Toronto for the first time since a miserable outing in the aforementioned series on April 1.

In that game, the 35-year-old was roughed up for six hits and eight runs in just four innings, dropping a 13-3 decision to fall to 3-6 lifetime against the Blue Jays.

He won two of his next three decisions to level the 2011 record at 2-2, but has since dropped consecutive starts at Kansas City and Boston while allowing 22 hits and 14 runs in just 10 1/3 innings.

Pavano has held foes to three runs or less in just three of seven starts and the Twins are 2-5 in games he's pitched while being outscored, 51-20.

California-born lefty Ricky Romero goes for the Blue Jays in a rematch of the early assignment opposite Pavano.

The 26-year-old emerged a winner in the April 1 game after allowing one earned run on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.

He's also slumped since, winning just once in six subsequent starts -- a 5-3 defeat of New York at Yankee Stadium on April 29.

In his last start, on May 7, the Blue Jays were beaten 9-0 after he gave up five hits and six runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Minnesota has never beaten Romero in four tries, giving the former first-round draft pick a 3-0 record and 2.48 earned run average across 29 innings.

On Wednesday in Toronto, John McDonald finished 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI as the Blue Jays used a five-run seventh inning to rout Boston, 9-3, in the finale of a two-game series.

Rajai Davis collected four hits, drove in two runs and scored twice for the Blue Jays, who took both games in the set after losing three straight to Detroit.

Yunel Escobar, Corey Patterson, Aaron Hill and David Cooper added an RBI each for Toronto.

Jesse Litsch (4-2) worked 5 2/3 innings for the win, allowing three runs on six hits while fanning four.