The Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays are both struggling on offense in the early going this season and match-up for a three-game series starting today

Minnesota Twins at Tampa Bay Rays

Minnesota was unable to capture a two-game sweep from the Kansas City Royals in dropping a 10-5 home contest Wednesday.  It’s too early for the Twins to panic, but yesterday’s starting pitcher Francisco Liriano fell to 0-3 with a 9.42 ERA after the loss.  “It’s the third game of the season,” he commented.  “Everything’s good.  I don’t want to get frustrated.”  The offense is slowly starting to turn things around after averaging 2.6 runs per game while starting 3-5 on the season, as it has combined for 23 hits and plating seven runs on Sunday and Tuesday.  Minnesota is 14-15 the last three years after allowing 10 runs or more.

Twins starting pitcher Carl Pavano is coming off a bounceback win against the Athletics and is currently 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA in two starts.  Last year, the right-hander went 0-1 with a 4.38 ERA in two outings against Tampa Bay.  Pavano has tallied a winning 5-4 record and 3.84 ERA in 12 career starts against the Rays, allowing hitters to hit for a combined .265 average.  The veteran starter is 24-23 with a 4.24 ERA in 68 career appearances (63 starts) indoors.

Tampa Bay lost six straight games to start the season, but won back-to-back games against the Red Sox before Wednesday’s contest at Fenway Park was rained out.  Last year, the Rays took five of eight from Minnesota, including a split at The Trop from August 2-5.  The Rays have scored 39 runs on the season (3.55 runs per game), but 16 of those runs came in Monday’s 16-5 victory.  “We’re seeing some progress right now and I feel good about that,” said manager Joe Maddon.  “We got some really good pitching and finally some timely hitting is showing up.”  Tampa Bay is 1-7 versus right-handed starters this year and 0-5 in games played on artificial turf.

Rays starting pitcher James Shields is 0-1 with a 4.73 ERA in two starts this season, surrendering three home runs in 13.1 innings of work.  The right-hander picked up a no-decision in his last outing, leading the club to a 9-7 road win over the Chicago White Sox, giving up five runs and eight hits in six frames.  Shields gave up four runs in six innings in his only 2010 outing against Minnesota.  “I’m ready to go tomorrow,” Shields said.  “And we’ll start that series off right.”  He has recorded a 3-1 record and 5.27 ERA in seven starts against the Twins, allowing hitters to hit a lofty .320 in the process.

Bettors will likely back the Twins due to their 6-2 mark against losing teams with Pavano on the mound, while the Rays are 1-11 in their last 12 home games.