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Twins, Athletics match young starters

Apr 24, 2008 - 1:01 PM Minnesota (10-11) at Oakland (13-9) 3:35 pm EDT

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) - The Minnesota Twins will send Francisco Liriano back to the mound Thursday when they visit the Oakland Athletics in the rubber match of a three-game series.

Having recently returned to the rotation, Liriano (0-2, 6.52 ERA) has had trouble getting back into the groove in his first two starts of the season.

He failed to make it into the sixth inning in either of his outings and the lefthander has had trouble finding his command, walking 10 batters in 9 2/3 total frames.

One of the most promising young pitchers in the game after his standout 2006 season, Liriano missed the entire 2007 campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He has yet to regain the form that saw him strikeout 144 batters while walking just 32 in 121 innings in 2006.

The A's will counter with their own young starter, Greg Smith (1-0, 3.00). The 24-year-old lefthander has yet to allow more than three earned runs in a major league start.

Smith will be trying to match teammate Chad Gaudin's effort from Wednesday night. Gaudin tossed seven scoreless innings and Mike Sweeney homered to lead Oakland to a 3-0 victory.

The A's have won four of their last five games, outscoring opponents 33-13.

Minnesota had its three-game winning streak snapped Wednesday, but has had trouble scoring runs - totaling just 13 in the last six games.