MINNEAPOLIS – There are no 96 mph heaters from Kevin Slowey. No bat-breaking sliders or splitters that feel like bowling balls to opposing hitters.
It's all about pitching smarts and location for the 24-year-old right-hander.
Facing an A's lineup that is turning swinging and missing into an art form, that combination proved to be just as dominant Tuesday night.
Slowey had a career-high 12 strikeouts, and Brian Buscher matched his career best with five RBIs in the Minnesota Twins' 13-2 victory.
"I'd love to throw it 96 or 97, but I definitely don't," Slowey said. " … But the Twins are huge proponents of location over velocity, and I'm always making a big point of that. If you keep the ball low, 92 looks a lot harder than 97 at the belt."
Buscher had three hits, including a two-run homer, and the Twins pummeled Sean Gallagher (1-2) for 10 earned runs in five innings to bounce back from a lackluster 3-2 loss to Oakland on Monday.
It was one of the ugliest losses in a season full of them for the A's, who fell to 6-24 since the All-Star break, trail the Angels by 19 1/2 games in the American League West and haven't won consecutive games since July 10-11.
"We're in a serious funk," Gallagher said. "The whole goal coming into a season is to win as many series as you can, and we obviously haven't been doing a good job of that. For whatever reason, we can't get that final game to win a series."
In the dog days of August, Gallagher sounded as if the dreaded "dead arm" might be setting in.
"I just felt like I didn't have anything in my arm," he said.
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