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BAL@CLE: Masterson pitches 7 1/3 solid frames in win

A day after coming within two outs of snapping their longest losing streak since 2009, the Indians will look to halt their 11-game skid Wednesday when they wrap up a three-game set with the Twins in Cleveland.

Indians right-hander Justin Masterson will toe the rubber trying to send his club in the right direction.

Since holding the Orioles to one run over 7 1/3 innings on July 23, the 27-year-old has struggled mightily. In his last 9 2/3 innings on the mound, Masterson has given up 15 runs on 17 hits.

He lasted just four innings in his latest start, surrendering seven runs to the Tigers.

"Sometimes, I feel like there is an outside force trying to bring me down," Masterson said after the game. "I just have to fight through that."

Starting for the Twins will be Brian Duensing, who will be making his seventh start of the season after making 33 appearances out of the bullpen.

The 29-year-old has pitched extremely well recently, giving up just three runs over his last 16 innings.

In his most recent start, Duensing picked up a win over the Red Sox by holding Boston to two runs on 10 hits in six innings.

Overall, the Twins have won eight of their last 12 games and are climbing in the standings.

"If you start looking at it with the hole we had, we've been playing pretty good baseball for a good while here," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "The goal is to keep winning series and get back to .500. So whoever is in our way and gets jumped, we can't control that. All we can do is win our games. We just want to win our series and have some fun. That's the best part of the game going out there like last night scoring 10 runs, shaking hands and setting a few records along the way."

Twins: Plouffe takes a step forward
Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe fielded grounders and ran the bases at Target Field on Tuesday and is scheduled to swing in the cages on Wednesday, according to Twins manager Ron Gardenhire.

Plouffe is on the disabled list retroactive to July 21 with a bruised right thumb after being jammed by a pitch against the Royals on July 20.

If all goes well on Wednesday, Plouffe is expected to take batting practice on the field on Thursday.

The Twins are still deciding whether he'll need a rehab assignment once his thumb is healed. There remains a slight chance he could be activated from the disabled list on Friday.

Indians: Lopez designated for assignment
The Tribe designated Jose Lopez for assignment on Tuesday for the second time. To fill Lopez's roster spot, Cleveland recalled right-handed reliever Frank Herrmann from Triple-A Columbus.

Lopez became the fourth veteran player the Indians have designated within the last week, joining outfielder Johnny Damon and pitchers Derek Lowe and Jeremy Accardo.

Lopez, who appeared mostly at third base for Cleveland, hit .249 with four home runs and 28 RBIs in 66 games this season. He had struggled of late, though, hitting just .197 with no homers and one RBI in 22 games since July 4. The Indians have 10 days to trade Lopez or release him.

"Tough call. He's been very serviceable," Indians manager Manny Acta said of Lopez. "He was a very good teammate, and he has filled a role for us, but we had no choice. We had to do it. Our bullpen is just not in very good shape right now."

Worth noting
• Twins outfielder Ben Revere has hit safely in a career-high 21 straight games since July 16.

• Indians 23-year-old rookie Cody Allen tossed a scoreless frame on Monday, extending his Major League career-opening streak to nine consecutive shutout innings.

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