Home after tough trip, Twins take on lowly Rockies

The Minnesota Twins are eager to open a 10-game homestand when they face the Colorado Rockies for a three-game series starting Monday night in Minneapolis.

For the previous nine games, the Twins have been on the road. They went 3-6 against the Houston Astros, New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Minnesota, which was shut out in back-to-back games Friday and Saturday against Pittsburgh, erupted for seven runs in the 10th inning of Sunday's 11-5 win.

"The truth is, it took a lot of work," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said after the game. "... It feels good. It will feel good to get on a plane and go home."

The Twins turn their attention to the Rockies, who are in the midst of a seven-game trip. Colorado split a four-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals before heading north.

The Rockies, who have dropped seven of their last nine games, are coming off a 5-1 loss against the Cardinals on Sunday. The contest marked the major league debut for Rockies infielder Adael Amador, who singled in his first at-bat and stole second base moments later.

Amador, who started at second and batted eighth, is the Rockies' No. 1 prospect, per MLB.com.

"We're going to get him some starts," Rockies manager Bud Black said. "We want to get him acclimated. This was good for him -- a good crowd on a Sunday afternoon, nice energy in the park.

"These are all steps for him to start his career. These little steps and positive notes along the way will only help the player."

Twins right-hander Chris Paddack (4-3, 5.26 ERA), who is slated to start Monday, is mired in a five-game winless streak and allowed seven runs on six hits in four innings against the Yankees on Wednesday.

Paddack has faced the Rockies four times in his career, including two starts. He is 2-0 with a 2.12 ERA in 17 innings.

Colorado will counter with right-hander Dakota Hudson (2-7, 5.25), who also is coming off a no-decision in his last start against the Cincinnati Reds, who scored four runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings against him on Wednesday.

Hudson has one start against the Twins in his career. He earned the victory and posted a 3.86 ERA after allowing three runs in seven innings last Aug. 2.

The Twins hope to carry momentum from Sunday's seven-run 10th inning into Monday's series opener. Baldelli marveled at his team's big inning after it went two games without scoring a run.

"The game is nuts," Baldelli said. "You can play and things go a certain way for days and days and days at a time, and then you put it together and you put up -- what'd we put up? -- seven runs in one inning. It's goofy.

"When I say it's nuts, it's like, we're all kind of nuts. If you like this, you like it for things like today."

--Field Level Media