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Padres eye rare win in Minnesota

Aug 5, 2014 - 2:40 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - If there is a pitcher on San Diego's staff that seems up to the task of snapping the club's losing streak to the Minnesota Twins, it's rookie Jesse Hahn.

Hahn will try to lead the Padres to their first victory over the Twins in over nine years on Tuesday night in the opener of a two-game set in Minnesota.

The Padres have lost eight in a row to the Twins since last beating the club on June 19, 2005 in Minnesota. Their current series losing streak includes getting swept in two games by the Twins in San Diego from March 20-21.

Hahn did not pitch in that series as he did not make his major league debut until June 3. However, he has been a big spark to the rotation, going 7-2 with a 2.01 earned run average in nine starts with a 4-0 mark and 1.50 ERA in four road contests.

The right-hander won his third straight start on Wednesday and it came on his 25th birthday. Hahn limited the St. Louis Cardinals to a run on four hits and two walks over seven innings of a 12-1 outcome.

"To get a win on your birthday, that's an awesome feeling," Hahn said. "It makes it a lot easier when they put up runs like that."

It marked Hahn's third straight one-run outing and he has yielded two runs or fewer in all but two of his nine career starts. He will face an AL opponent for the second time, having bested Seattle on June 19 after allowing one unearned run over seven innings.

San Diego is riding high after a pair of series victories over playoff contenders. The Padres took two of three from St. Louis before sweeping a three-game set from the visiting Atlanta Braves.

The Padres still find themselves 8 1/2 games out of the NL's second wild card spot.

The Twins also sit 8 1/2 games out of a wild card position and won the final two of a three-game series with the Chicago White Sox, taking Sunday's finale 16-3.

Minnesota was up by just a run before plating 12 runs in the final two innings. The highlight of the burst came in the ninth frame, when Chris Parmelee, Oswaldo Arcia and Eric Fryer hit back-to-back-to back homers, the first time for Minnesota since July 12, 2001.

"Up to the eighth inning it was a 4-3 ballgame, then the ball started flying all over the place," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Phil Hughes would take some more offensive support tonight as he tries to snap a three-start slide.

The right-hander left an outing on July 24 versus the Chicago White Sox following three innings after getting hit on the shin by a comebacker, but he was able to take the mound on Wednesday versus Kansas City.

Hughes gave up three runs -- all in the sixth frame -- on seven hits and a walk in the 3-2 setback.

"It seems like every bad game I've had there's been one bad inning," Hughes said following his six-inning outing.

The 28-year-old dropped to 10-8 on the year with a 4.12 ERA, and is 1-1 lifetime versus the Padres with a 4.66 ERA in two starts. That win came on May 21 in San Diego, where he hurled seven scoreless frames.