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Liriano takes the mound as Twins open series against Mariners

Aug 25, 2008 - 1:24 PM Minnesota (74-56) at Seattle (48-82) 10:10 pm EDT

SEATTLE (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Twins have received stellar production from their young rotation. However, if they intend on staying in playoff contention, one of the five hurlers under the age of 27 will need to step up as a legitimate ace.

Francisco Liriano is well on his way to doing so.

The 24-year-old lefthander takes the hill with hopes of stopping the Twins' modest two-game losing streak as they open a three-game series against the lowly Seattle Mariners on Monday at Safeco Field.

Minnesota is coming off a four-game split with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (79-50), perhaps the American League's most potent club. It took the first two games and dropped the last two, falling a one-half game behind the Chicago White Sox (74-55) for first place in the AL Central Division.

The Twins haven't lost three straight games since a five-game skid July 20-25 and stand one game behind the Boston Red Sox (75-55) in the wild card chase. It's up to Liriano (4-3, 4.24 ERA) to maintain or improve that pace.

A big reason for their success this season is great defense, which has supported the solid pitching efforts. This season, the Twins have turned the 12th most double plays (105) in baseball. In 2007, they turned 128 double plays, which was 22nd.

Liriano has been spectacular since returning from the minors, going 4-0 with a 1.14 ERA in four starts. In that span, he's given up all three runs in one outing - a game in which he tossed 5 2/3 innings for a victory.

His most recent outing was a success, throwing five frames while allowing one unearned run and five hits against the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday.

Miguel Batista (4-12, 6.55) will counter for Seattle as he hopes to make his return to the rotation a successful one. The righthander has made six relief appearances since his last start, when he surrendered six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Twins on August 4.

The Twins swept the Mariners in a three-game set from August 15-17. Prior to that, the Mariners took two of three on August 4-6.

During Sunday's shortcoming, Justin Morneau became only the second Twins player to record 100 or more RBI in three consecutive seasons. The first was Harmon Killebrew from 1969-1971.