Worth noting

• Aaron Hicks went 2-for-3 on Thursday, driving in the Twins' only run with a double in the seventh inning. He is batting .340 this spring.

• Josh Willingham went 0-for-3 with a walk and three strikeouts on Thursday and is now batting .051, with 13 strikeouts.

"He's fighting it right now," Gardenhire said. "I could see tonight he's a little flustered out there. He knows we're fixing to start this thing, and he wants to have a better feel. We'll see what we can do here in the next couple of days to get him some confidence. He's a veteran. He should be able to handle it, but right now I can see he's not handling it very well. But he ain't the only one."

• Left-hander Brian Duensing pitched a perfect inning on Thursday in relief of Correia. Duensing was followed by right-hander Jared Burton, who took the loss after giving up one run on two hits and a walk with two strikeouts. Left-hander Glen Perkins gave up two runs on three hits with three strikeouts in one inning.