On this second-to-last day of the 2011 season at home, the Indians and the Twins will play two games for the price of...well, two, as Cleveland and Minnesota go at it at 1:05 and again at 7:05 for the Indians' second doubleheader in five days.
In the opener the scheduled pitchers are David Huff (2-6) and Scott Diamond (1-5). Huff has lost his last four starts consecutively, but has not been helped by the defense in his last two outings, giving up nine unearned runs in just 6.2 innings of work.
Huff has not won since beating Oakland on August 29, but one of his two victories this season came when he beat the Twins on July 18. Huff was brilliant in that outing in Minnesota, pitching seven scoreless innings and allowing five hits in a game won by the Tribe 5-2.
Diamond made his major league debut vs. Cleveland on that same July 18. In that game Diamond went 6.1 frames and allowed four runs, three of which were earned. Aside from giving up five runs in four innings against the Yankees in his last start, Diamond has pitched pretty well, and considering that two of his six appearances were against the Tigers, two were against the White Sox and one was vs. the Yankees, a 4.81 ERA is not all that bad.
Francisco Liriano gets the start in the second game for the Twins. Liriano (9-9) is 5-4 in his career with an ERA of 3.00 in 72 innings of work vs. The Good Guys. Liriano is only 1-1 against the Tribe this season, but that loss was a 1-0 defeat on June 7 in which Liriano gave up only an unearned run in five innings.
Liriano's opponent will be Mitch Talbot, who finally gets back in action after not appearing in a big league game since July 8.
Talbot (2-6) will be making his first appearance vs. Minnesota in 2011. Mitch has worked only 58.1 innings this season.
After today's twin-bill, the Indians will wrap up action at Progressive Field for 2011 on Sunday at 1:05, when Fausto Carmona (7-15) takes on Liam Hendriks (0-2).