Minnesota Twins vs Kansas City Royals
When ? 27 September, 2011 – 08:10 pm
Where ? Target Field
Pitchers: vs O’Sullivan vs Swarzak
Kansas City goes for its third straight victory Tuesday night when the host Twins try to avoid their first 100-loss season in nearly three decades. O’Sullivan remained in the minors after recovering from that injury, going 8-2 with a 4.22 ERA in 14 regular-season starts at Triple-A Omaha. He is 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA in two starts versus Minnesota this season. “We wanted to win (Monday) to stay away from having to win the next two,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “Now we’ve got to. We’ve got (Carl) Pavano going (Wednesday). We’re hoping we can get to that last day and have Pavano stop it from ever happening. We’ve got to win (Tuesday).” Kansas City, though, has won 11 of 14 following Monday’s 7-3 series-opening victory. Despite opening 10-4 — their best start since 2003 — the Royals (71-89) will have to wait another season to make their first playoff appearance since winning the 1985 World Series. The AL-worst Twins (61-99), meanwhile, have dropped 29 of 35 and need to win out to avoid their first 100-loss season since finishing 60-102 in 1982. These teams have split their first 16 meetings of 2011. The right-hander gave up seven runs — three earned — in 2 2/3 innings of the June 2 loss, and landed on the disabled list with right biceps tendinitis the following day. It was a vast improvement from Swarzak’s previous start, a 10-4 loss to Cleveland on Sept. 17 in which he was tagged for seven runs in 1 2/3 innings. Highlights, live score and results will be available soon.. stay tuned.