MINNEAPOLIS — Without being able to peer into Kevin Slowey’s imagination for assurance, one can only guess at what his perfect world looks like.
Chances are it is the same place the Minnesota Twins right-hander thinks of when told to envision his comfort zone or paradise.
For Slowey, it is probably on the mound in either Miller Park or the Metrodome staring down the Milwaukee Brewers’ lineup, usually closer to a nightmare for most pitchers.
But why wouldn’t that be Slowey’s utopia or happy place? All he does against the Brewers is flat-out dominate.
He did it June 13 in Milwaukee, throwing eight innings and allowing no runs on five hits without walking anyone.
He did it again Sunday afternoon in the Metrodome, flicking the “off” switch on the Brewers’ bats as he pitched a three-hit, complete-game shutout, using just 109 pitches to down Milwaukee, 5-0.
“You got to take your hat off to what he did today,” Brewers manager Ned Yost said. “It was the exact same stuff. He didn’t pull no tricks. It’s called execution. It’s called keeping the fastball down and away on the black and mixing in your off-speed stuff.
“We got beat. He beat us. There wasn’t much we could do against him.”
Slowey started the season 0-4 and came into his first start against the Brewers 2-6, but since then he has won three consecutive decisions by repeating what he started at Miller Park.
He was perfect through the first 3 1/3 innings before J.J. Hardy doubled off Brendan Harris’ glove in the fourth. But Slowey got Ryan Braun to ground out and struck out Prince Fielder, who is 1-for-24 on the trip, to cancel the hit.
Mike Cameron led off the sixth with an infield single and stole second base, but a fly-out, pop-out and another strikeout squashed any thoughts of a run. It would be the last time Slowey would allow a runner into scoring position.
“The first time he pitched, he was pretty lights out and didn’t throw meatballs over the plate,” Brewers right fielder Corey Hart said. “He was hitting the corners really well (Sunday). It’s tough to get going when a guy’s not throwing balls to drive.
“He didn’t make any mistakes. He might have made a few but when he made them, he got the next guy out.”
Brewers ace Ben Sheets didn’t make a ton of mistakes but when he did, the Twins capitalized on them. Every run they scored came after two were out.
Sheets completed seven innings and allowed nine hits and struck out seven, but his inability to lasso a third out broke him.
Also, eight of the Twins’ nine hits came on off-speed pitches.
Jason Kubel hit a two-out single on a curveball to score Joe Mauer in the fourth, Carlos Gomez tripled with two outs on a curve the next inning, Delmon Young pounded a first-pitch curve into the left-field seats for a two-run home run with two down in the sixth, and finally Alexi Casilla doubled home Mike Lamb on a curve after seeing four straight fastballs, also with two outs.
“I thought I had way better stuff than that, so I’m disappointed with ... the results,” Sheets said. “They didn’t miss any mistakes. I didn’t get away with any at all.
“I couldn’t put away an inning.”
On the opposite side, Slowey was close to mistake-free against one of the more feared lineups in the National League.
“That is a great hitting lineup, and you’ve got to be hitting your spots and doing your things,” Minnesota pitching coach Rick Anderson said. “Any lineup in the game is tough, but they’re probably doubly tough on anyone.”
Once it was evident that Slowey wasn’t a fluke—he was the Class AAA International League’s Pitcher of the Year last season—all the Brewers could do was hope for a lapse in focus.
“You just got to hope that he gets a ball over the heart of the plate and that you can drive it somewhere,” Yost said. “Then you hope you can do it a couple of times. But if he doesn’t do it, those games are hard to (win).”