The Indians are in Minnesota tonight, as T.J. House is set to take on LHP Kris Johnson. Johnson was originally a first round pick of the Boston Red Sox in the 2006 draft. They released him in 2011, and he ended up in Pittsburgh. The Pirates traded him to the Twins this offseason for RHP Duke Welker, who was released by the Pirates about a week or so ago. The reason I shared all of this, is to point out that this is your standard Triple-A starter making a major league start. The Indians have had problems with pitchers like this and Johnson is left-handed. He’s only made two appearances for the Twins this year – he started games on May 1 and July 11. Johnson did a nice job during the May start against the Dodgers, but gave up 5 ER in 4 IP against the Rockies a week and a half ago. The Twins have never faced House either, so it’s new pitching all around this evening.
Lineups:
Indians:
Jason Kipnis, 2B
Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
Yan Gomes, DH
Carlos Santana, 1B
Ryan Raburn, LF
Nick Swisher, RF
Mike Aviles, CF
Twins:
Danny Santana, CF
Brian Dozier, 2B
Trevor Plouffe, 3B
Kendrys Morales, 1B
Josh Willingham, LF
Kurt Suzuki, C
Chris Colabello, DH
Chris Parmelee, RF
Eduardo Escobar, SS
[message_box title=”Minnesota Twins Scouting Report” color=”#d40134″]
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- Starter: LHP Kris Johnson
- Overview: 29-year-old journeyman making 4th career start. Acquired in trade from Pittsburgh this past offseason.
- Repertoire: Fastball (62%, 89 mph), Changeup (21%), Slider (14%), Curve (2)
- K Pitch: Favors outside slider vs lefties… Even mix of fastball, change, slider vs righties
- vs Tribe: First appearance vs Indians
- Key Matchups: Gomes: .400 BA, 3 HR vs LHP’s fastballs… Kipnis: .171 BA vs LHP’s offspeed pitches
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Sources: ESPN Stats & Information, Baseball-Reference [/message_box]
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