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Twins glad to be home, face slumping Tigers

Sep 6, 2008 - 10:17 AM Detroit (67-74) at Minnesota (78-63) 3:55 p.m. EDT

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Twins are thrilled to be home, and will look to win consecutive games for the first time in more than two weeks on Saturday against the Detroit Tigers.

Minnesota, which trails Chicago (79-61) by 1 1/2 games in the American League Central, returned home from a 14-game road trip and snapped a three-game skid with a 10-2 victory on Friday.

Justin Morneau hit his fourth career grand slam and Francisco Liriano tossed seven dominant innings as the Twins opened up a six-game homestand in style.

"Nice way to come home," said Minnesota manager Rod Gardenhire, whose team is 20-5 at home since July 1.

It's always fun when you come back and you get your fans and you're playing well," Morneau said. "This is a game we definitely needed to win after getting beat up pretty good those last three games in Toronto, come back and hopefully we can get on a roll again."

Scott Baker (8-4, 3.66 ERA) looks to build off his first win in seven starts and help the Twins move closer to first place. The righthander allowed one run and six hits in six innings of a 12-4 win over Oakland on Sunday to pick up his first win in a month.

Meanwhile, Detroit has lost nine of 12 and sends struggling Justin Verlander (10-15, 4.74) to the hill. Verlander, who is looking to avoid a third straight loss, is 2-6 with a 7.29 ERA in his last eight starts.