Minnesota @ Toronto preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 7, 2010 ) Minnesota 5, Toronto 6

The Toronto Blue Jays are on a short list of American League opponents Scott Baker has never beaten.

Baker hopes to add the Jays to his list of conquests Thursday night as he leads the Minnesota Twins into the rubber match of their three-game series at the Rogers Centre.

The Twins opened with a 7-6 victory on Tuesday, while the Blue Jays bounced back with a 5-4 triumph Wednesday that ended a three-game losing streak. The opening two games have been topsy-turvy affairs, with the teams exchanging leads nine different times in the series.

Toronto was led by two of its three All-Stars on Wednesday. Jose Bautista went 2-for-2 with a rare two-run inside-the-park homer, the first at the Rogers Centre since 2003. Vernon Wells went just 1-for-4, but his hit was a pivotal seventh-inning single that brought home Bautista with the winning run.

The Twins send Baker (7-7) to the mound in the series finale. The 28-year-old right-hander ended a personal two-game losing streak in his last start, allowing a run on six hits over seven strong innings as Minnesota earned a 2-1 in over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Baker has 50 major-league victories to his credit, but none of those have come against Toronto. He's 0-3 all-time versus the Blue Jays, with a 5.10 ERA in five starts. He last faced Toronto back on Sept. 10, when he took the loss after surrendering three runs over 6 2/3 innings of a 3-2 defeat.

Baker is looking to bounce back from a horrid June in which he went 1-3 with a 6.07 ERA. It was his first losing month since he posted a 2-3 mark in five starts in May 2009.

He'll be hoping to lean on a Minnesota lineup that has bashed out 21 hits over the opening two games of the series. Twins stars Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Delmon Young have all homered in the series, while Denard Span is 3-for-8 with two runs scored and a pair of RBIs.

Jays left-hander Brett Cecil (7-5) will try to tame the Minnesota bats. The 24-year-old is 0-3 over his last four starts since putting together a five-game winning streak beginning in mid-May. He earned a no-decision his last time out but probably deserved better, allowing a lone run in six innings as the Jays went on to beat the New York Yankees 6-1.

Cecil has faced the Twins just once in his career. He limited them to a pair of runs over six innings to outduel Baker last September, making him victorious in what was his final start of the season.

The Jays remain home for their final series prior to the All-Star Break, hosting the Boston Red Sox for a three-game set beginning Friday night. The Twins conclude their six-game road swing with a weekend series against the Detroit Tigers, one of the teams chasing them in the American League Central race.