(Sports Network) - Solid baseball during recent interleague play has put the Minnesota Twins in position to get back to .500. The team tries to return to that mark tonight in the second test of a three-game series with the Washington Nationals at the Metrodome.

Minnesota hasn't been at the .500 mark since June 7, when a setback to the White Sox dropped the club to 31-31. That loss was the third loss in what ended up being a season-long six-game skid, a rough stretch the Twins are trying to recover from.

The club took two of three from Milwaukee over the weekend and moved to 35-36 with a close win over Washington on Tuesday. Justin Morneau provided all the offense Minnesota needed with a two-run homer in the sixth inning, lifting the Twins to a 2-1 victory. Joe Mauer went 2-for-3 and scored a run.

It was Morneau's first homer since May 30 -- a span of 16 games between long balls -- and his 11th of the season. He is currently riding a six-game hitting streak, batting .400 (10-for-25) in that time with nine runs batted in and five scored. He has also just struck out once during his last eight games.

Livan Hernandez (7-4) picked up the win after he went seven innings and gave up just one run on five hits. Hernandez snapped a six-game winless streak and is now 5-0 at home this season. Joe Nathan earned his 18th save of the season, working a scoreless ninth.

Cristian Guzman had the only RBI for the Nationals, who saw their three-game win streak snapped. Paul Lo Duca had a double and scored Washington's lone run in his first game back from the disabled list. Lo Duca filled the Nats' designated hitter role after missing the past 36 games due to a fractured right hand.

John Lannan (4-8) took the loss after he was touched for two runs on five hits in seven innings. Washington fell to 4-3 on its nine-game road trip.

Tonight's pitching matchup features a pair of hurlers facing the opposite club for the first time in their careers.

Jason Bergmann goes for the Nats and has lost his last three starts. Bergmann, who hasn't won since beating the Mets on May 15, has a 7.47 earned run average over those three outings and gave up six runs (4 earned) on eight hits over just 4 2/3 innings versus Pittsburgh on Thursday. That stint was still longer than his previous one, when the righty gave lasted just three innings in a loss to the Giants.

Bergmann is 1-4 with a 5.48 ERA and 1-2 in four road starts this year.

The Twins counter with Kevin Slowey, who had given up 12 runs over two starts before defeating the Brewers on Friday. The right-hander held Milwaukee to a pair of runs on five hits over eight innings, also striking out five.

Slowey is 3-6 with a 4.70 ERA and has given up just three runs total in his three wins this season. He is winless (0-3) in three home starts in 2008.

These teams also played a three-game set in Minnesota last season, with the Nationals winning two of those tests.