California-born righty Jered Weaver can continue a career's worth of success against the Minnesota Twins on Monday night, when the Los Angeles Angels visit them at Target Field to make up a previously postponed April game.
A 20-game winner in 30 starts last season, Weaver is 8-2 in 14 career meetings with the Twins while posting a 3.28 earned run average across 96 combined innings of work.
He last faced them on July 24 at home and was the winner in a 1-0 masterpiece, working eight innings and allowing just two hits while walking a batter and striking out nine.
He's 4-3 in seven decisions since that start, including a 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Sept. 4 in which he allowed three runs in seven innings.
The Angels are 6-4 in his last 10 starts since mid-July, and Weaver has allowed three runs or less in eight of those outings.
For the Twins, Venezuelan lefty Pedro Hernandez faces the Angels for the first time in his 12th major league appearance.
The 24-year-old lost his lone start with the Chicago White Sox last season and has won three of four decisions while starting eight games for the Twins in 2013 and appearing in relief in two others.
He began the season with the Twins and stayed with the big club through May, but has pitched only twice since - defeating Cleveland, 5-3, on June 23 and getting a no-decision at Houston on Sept. 3.
In the two spot starts, Hernandez has combined to allow four runs on nine hits in 11 innings while the Twins have won both games, outscoring their foes, 14-9.
On Sunday in Anaheim, Alex Rios doubled in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, and the visiting Texas Rangers avoided a three-game sweep by posting a 4-3 win over the Angels.
Andrew Romine hit a two-run double for the Angels, while starter Jason Vargas was in line for the win before giving way to the bullpen. Vargas worked six innings and limited the Rangers to two runs on six hits with eight strikeouts.
In Minnesota, Jose Reyes broke a scoreless deadlock with an RBI double in the eighth, and Esmil Rogers worked 7 2/3 blank frames, as the Toronto Blue Jays shut out the Twins, 2-0, to complete a three-game sweep.
Jared Burton (2-9) was tagged with the loss after giving up both runs in the eighth in relief of starter Andrew Albers, who struck out five over seven scoreless innings of four-hit ball.
Alex Presley registered two of Minnesota's five hits, as the Twins dropped their fourth straight contest.
The Twins won four of the first five games with the Angels in 2013, including two of three in a series at Anaheim from July 22-24.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.