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t of the starting lineup Saturday against left-hander Bumgarner but are
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Kansas City Royals will try and continue their dominance of the Minnesota Twins when the teams play the second of a three-game series on Saturday night at Target Field.Kansas City is 6-1 against Minnesota this season, including a 7-3 victory in the series opener here on Friday.The main reason for Kansas Citys success has been the play of catcher Salvador Perez, who has been a Twins killer over the years and was again on Friday.Perez had just one hit on Friday, but it was an important one, muscling through a Kyle Gibson curveball that snapped his bat and blooping it into shallow left, scoring two runs and giving Kansas City a lead it wouldnt relinquish.For the season, Perez is hitting .519 against the Twins and has a .322 career mark against them.Those are the kind of breaks that have been going against us a little bit, said Royals manager Ned Yost. To finally take the lead back, that was a big hit. But thats what happens when you put the ball in play. You got guys in scoring position and you find ways to put the ball in play. It doesnt have to be pretty, it just has to be effective and that certainly was effective.Minnesota got home runs from Miguel Sano and Brian Dozier on Friday. Both players have been red hot of late, but other than those two, the Twins have struggled to score consistently.Sano has five home runs in his last seven games and reached the 20 home-run plateau for the first time in his career.Doziers 17 homers since June 19 are more than any other player in baseball.Its unfortunate that (Dozier and Sano) has been the majority of our output it seems as of late, said Twins manager Paul Molitor. Runners in scoring position, opportunities, some of those things are still areas that need improvement.We like the home runs, they play for sure, but we need to find some other ways to score.Kansas City will turn to Dillon Gee in game two of the series, three days after he pitched two innings and earned the victory in the Royals 14-inning win over the Chicago White Sox. Gee had his worst outing of the season in a start against the Twins on May 25, allowing six runs (five earned) on 10 hits and a walk in five innings.Tyler Duffey will try for his third consecutive victory for Minnesota. He allowed just one run on four hits and a walk with eight strikeouts in six innings against Houston on Monday. Cheap Air Jordan 3 Free Shipping . Deulofeu injured a muscle in his right leg in Evertons 4-1 win over Fulham in the English Premier League on Saturday. Barcelona says that its team doctors will "co-ordinate" with Evertons medical staff as Deulofeu recovers. Cheap Air Jordan 3 Wholesale . LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. http://www.airjordan3wholesale.com/ . On Saturday night, the normally free throw-challenged centre did just that. Howard scored 18 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including 13 of 19 free throws in a 2 1/2-minute stretch, and the Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 122-111. Air Jordan 3 Discount . Perhaps Carroll was so prepared for a break because he believes there is very little the Seattle Seahawks need heading into the off-season. "I dont see anything that we need to add. We just have to get better," Carroll said. Cheap Air Jordan 3 China . Halifax beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-5 on the strength of two goals apiece from Nikolaj Ehlers, Matt Murphy and Brent Andrews. Jonathan Drouin also scored and had three assists while Zachary Fucale made 17 saves for the Mooseheads (16-8-0), who led 6-1 after two periods. CHICAGO -- The San Francisco Giants likely need a better performance from right-hander Johnny Cueto than they got in his last outing if theyre going to split a four-game series with the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.Cueto, a two-time All-Star, allowed four runs in 4 2/3 innings on Tuesday in a loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in his shortest outing of the season for theGiants. He is 14-5 with a 2.98 ERA this year and 9-8 with a 3.34 ERA in 23 career starts against Chicago.I think the pitches caught up with him, Giants manager Bruce Bochy told reporters after that game. His command was a little off, he started missing his spots. It just got away from him.The Cubs (87-48), who lead the National League Central and own the best record in the majors, won the first two games of the series, 5-4 on Thursday and 2-1 on Friday. The Giants held off the Cubs 3-2 on Saturday behind Madison Bumgarners 10-strikeout performance.The victory in a playoff-like atmosphere in front of 41,250 fans boosted the Giants spirits. Theyre just 16-29 since the All-Star break.Its a tough group, Bochy said. Despite what happens, I really like the way theyre coming out and staying focused. Theyve had their backs to the wall and been through difficult times. But theyre going to keep fighting. Sure, weve had some issues in the second half, but its all about going out there every day with the same effort.The Giants (73-62) lead the National League wild-card standings but have won just five of their last 13.It was one we definitely wanted and needed, Giants catcher Buster Posey said about Saturdays win. It was good to score some runs off (Jake) Arrieta and then for our bullpen to hold the lead the last tthree innings.ddddddddddddOn Sunday, Cubs right-hander John Lackey (9-7, 3.41 ERA) is expected to make his first start since he went on the disabled list Aug. 15 with a right shoulder strain. He allowed an unearned run in 6 2/3 innings on Aug. 14 against the St. Louis Cardinals before he exited with the injury in his last start. He is 6-4 with a 2.47 ERA in 13 home starts.Lackey is 1-1 with a 2.57 ERA in two regular-season career games against the Giants.Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo and right fielder Jason Heyward were out of the starting lineup Saturday against left-hander Bumgarner but are expected back Sunday against Cueto.Veteran reliever Joe Nathan could soon make his first appearance for the Giants, who drafted him in 1995 and purchased his contract fromDouble-A Richmond on Saturday. The Giants signed the 41-year-old as a free agent on Aug. 16 after the Cubs released him on Aug. 8. Nathan previously pitched for the Giants from 1999 to 2003 before he and left-hander Francisco Liriano were traded to the Minnesota Twins for catcher A.J. Pierzynski and cash in 2003.It made everything a lot more comfortable, a lot easier to come back here, a little less to have to kind of prove myself, Nathan said of returning to the Giants.Nathan went 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in three games with the Cubs.At that time, we just couldnt fit everybody in, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. He had one really good game up in Milwaukee where we got a couple guys on and he struck out the side. His pitches got up to the low 90s (mph) with some really good break. ' ' '