Joe Mauer hit 11 home runs, batted .414 and had an on-base percentage of .500 for the month of May, which is nothing short of amazing. In his first game of the month of June, he managed to step it up a notch.

Mauer was 3-for-3 with a walk and hit his 12th home run of the season. He's now just 1 shy of his career high of 13 home runs in 2006. What's interesting is that all 3 of his hits came against left-handed pitching, which helps close the large gap in his platoon splits. Coming into the game Mauer was hitting .493 against RHP and .250 against LHP. The 3 hits bring the LHP average to .314.

Mauer also drove in 3 of the 4 Twins runs, which gives him an RBI total of 35 on the year. That's good for second on the team behind Justin Morneau's 47 (Morneau has nearly double the at-bats).

Injuries impact lineup

Michael Cuddyer missed the game with a finger injury and Joe Crede missed with swelling in his knee. Having both out of the lineup makes a hug difference. Note the lineup from last night's game:

1. Span
2. Mauer
3. Morneau
4. Kubel
5. Harris
6. Young
7. Buscher
8. Gomez
9. Casilla

After getting by the first 4, it's not a very frightening lineup. In fact, all the damage last night was done by the top of the lineup--namely Denard Span and Mauer. The bottom 5 were 3-for-17 with 1 run scored and 0 RBI. The top 4 were 7-for-14 with 3 runs scored and 4 RBI. Adding Cuddyer and Crede to the 5 and 6 spots in the lineup makes a huge difference.

Slowey has 8 wins

Kevin Slowey pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing 2 runs. He earned his 8th win of the season, good for 2nd best in baseball. He and Nick Blackburn have been holding the rotation together over the past month while Francisco Liriano and Scott Baker, the supposed top 2 starters on the team, have struggled.

Wednesday's Game

Anthony Swarzak will get his 3rd start of the season against Cliff Lee, who has had a pretty good year despite his 2-6 record. He posted a 2.57 ERA in the month of May, while never allowing more than 3 runs in a start.

Both Cuddyer and Crede remain questionable for the game.