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Yankees, Twins continue set at Target Field

Aug 20, 2011 - 2:55 PM (Sports Network) - A four-game set between the Minnesota Twins and the New York Yankees continues at Target Field this evening.

A.J. Burnett will get another start for the Yankees, as Freddy Garcia is still waiting for a cut on his finger to heal. Burnett is 9-9 with a 4.61 ERA and picked up a victory over Kansas City on Monday despite allowing 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings of action. He owns a 7.33 ERA over his last three starts.

Expected to get the ball for the Twins is Francisco Liriano and he hopes to even his record at 9-9. Liriano owns a disappointing 5.12 ERA and has struggled with his control this season, issuing 67 walks in 123 innings of action. The lefty was fortunate to pick up a win in his last start despite yielding five earned runs in six innings.

Liriano dropped a decision to the Yankees earlier this season and is 0-3 in his career versus New York with a 3.77 ERA.

On Friday, Russell Martin went 3-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI, while Phil Hughes threw 7 2/3 innings of two-hit ball in the Yankees' 8-1 victory over the Twins.

Hughes (4-4) yielded a first-inning home run to Trevor Plouffe and was nearly unhittable thereafter.

Mark Teixeira doubled twice and drove in three runs for the Yankees, who have won seven of nine to stay atop the AL East standings. They are a season-high 29 games over .500 at 76-47 and a half-game in front of Boston in the division standings. Derek Jeter had two hits and is closing in on Rod Carew for 22nd on the all-time list. Carew posted 3,053 hits in his career.

Teixeira drove in his 1,000th career run and Yankees All-Star third baseman Alex Rodriguez is still recovering from knee surgery. A-Rod is with the team in Minnesota and could return to the lineup Sunday. He is batting .295 with 13 homers and 52 RBI in 2011.

"I would probably lean against doing it [Saturday] because he's going to have that workout," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said on the club's website. "[It could be] Sunday or Tuesday, or whenever he's ready."

Girardi's team bolstered its pitching staff by claiming left-hander Aaron Laffey off waivers. Laffey was designated for assignment by the Mariners on Wednesday and is slated to join his new teammates on Saturday.

Kevin Slowey (0-1), in technically his first start of the season, was touched for six runs on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings for the Twins, who dropped the opener of this four-game set on Thursday after taking two of three at Detroit.

New York is the highest scoring team in all of baseball and is now 13 games over .500 on the road this season. Girardi's team has also gotten the job done defensively since there is only one AL team (Tampa Bay) that has surrendered fewer runs this season.

The Twins are 12 games off the pace in the AL Central.

The Yanks took two of three from the Twins earlier in the year and have won seven of their last eight in Minnesota. New York has won 15 of the last 17 regular-season games against the Twins and 21 of the last 24 overall.