ST. LOUIS — Shane Robinson is in the Twins' lineup today, so I accused manager Paul Molitor of being a sentimentalist at heart.
"I couldn't resist," he admitted.
But there's a baseball reason for the move, too, he insisted. Cardinals starter Michael Wacha, who was selected 17 spots after Byron Buxton in the 2012 draft, is actually tougher on left-handed hitters than right, by a .245-to-.209 margin, and the slugging percentage is almost a 100-point difference.
With such a reverse split, Molitor wanted to use a right-handed lineup, so Eddie Rosario sits in favor of Robinson, the local hero who received a long, warm ovation from Cardinals fans on Monday. Joe Mauer is the only lefthander in the Minnesota lineup.
None of the Twins have ever faced Wacha, who is having a spectacular season so far: 8-2, with a 2.45 ERA. "I don't think you can get overly greedy against a guy like this," Molitor said. "I.f you try to overswing, his command and velocity and movement and off-speed pitches can be a little too much to handle. You've got to stay short and try to use the whole field as best you can."
Buxton will bat ninth again, with Kyle Gibson eighth. "I was comfortable enough with it to go ahead and do it again, with the same reasoning," Molitor said. "The overriding factor of being a young kid, and having a chance to not worry about getting stuck out there on the bases, just proceeding to the top of the lineup, is the overweighing factor for me."
This is the final game of a five-game trip, and the Twins are 1-3 so far. They come home after today's 12:45 game to face these Cardinals again in Minneapolis for two games, with Buxton making his Target Field debut tomorrow night.
It's rained much of the morning, but stopped long enough for the Twins to get a short workout in on the field. Intermittent showers are in the forecast, but it sounds like the Cardinals are confident the game will be played.
Here are the lineups for the getaway game:
TWINS
Dozier 2B
Hunter RF
Mauer 1B
Plouffe 3B
Nunez SS
Suzuki C
Robinson LF
Gibson RHP
Buxton CF
CARDINALS
Wong 2B
Carpenter 3B
Peralta SS
Reynolds 1B
Molina C
Heyward RF
Grichuk LF
Bourjos CF
Wacha RHP
