Game Thread #53: Oakland A's vs. Minnesota Twins

Having slain Ervin Santana at the Coliseum on Monday, the A's now take on second-year pitcher Tyler Duffey on Tuesday to try to lock down the series victory against the Minnesota Twins. The 25-year-old is making his 17th major league start, and has a 3.42 ERA in his 16-start career so far, striking out 82 and walking 28 while allowing seven home runs. Duffey relies on the curveball more than anything else, and hitters end up putting that ball in play at a 6-to-1 GB-to-FB ratio, which is 10th highest out of 51 pitchers who have thrown at least 100 curveballs this year.

The 28-year-old Eric Surkamp will oppose Duffey, getting called up for his sixth start with the big league club. Hopefully the fly ball pitcher will take advantage of the Coliseum's expansive foul ball territory rather than its monolithic outfield seating area. The A's returned Zach Neal to Triple-A Nashville to call up Surkamp today.

Trevor Plouffe returns to Minnesota's lineup after missing the last few days with some knee soreness, as does Kurt Suzuki from taking a foul ball off the mask last Saturday in Seattle. The A's are inserting Billy Burns back into the lineup, batting ninth.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PT (and will actually happen at 7:07) on CSN California.