Welcome back David Festa. Hope you learned a few things in your brief time across the river. Phillies counter with their other ace, Nola. No big deal. Also the Royals have caught up and are effectively tied with the Twins with one more win and loss to their record.
Montero and Festa both making their second career starts tonight. Montero's first start was in the second game of a double header in May. He made another appearance, seemingly in a bulk appearance, a week ago at home. Neither appearance was good, 4.1 innings each time and giving up four and five runs respectively. I expect another 4.1 inning start but this time six runs over that time.
Festa also gave up five runs last time but clearly it was from one bad inning so I expect a quality start tonight.
Afternoon game alert! Top pitching prospect debut alert!
True first half of the season ends today and David Festa makes his long awaited debut. Festa should make two or three more starts until Paddack comes off the IL so I'm really curious how these few games will go.
Twins best starter by ERA and innings pitched looks to continue the winning streak. The Twins lead the Royals by a single game and since they now get to play the A's, the Twins need to keep racking up wins against the middling opponents too.
I don't think I've heard of Austin Gomber before. This being his fourth season in Colorado along with his 98 ERA+ mostly explains that. His best season by ERA so far but not by FIP. Nothing that remarkable about him but he is a lefty and an unheralded draft pick from the fourth round in 2014. He could be this generation's Jeremy.
30-24 in 54 games is a 90-72 team. That's three wins better than last season but I'm not sure that's enough to win the suddenly competitive division this season. The #1, #4, and #5 records, by winning percentage in the AL, are in the ALC right now. Expanded postseason gives the Twins the final wild card but it's a tenuous position.
Attempting to improve that situation is Ober who was knocked out in the second inning of his March 31 start against the Royals. Now two of his earned runs happened after he left but it was still 6-0 before that. His opponent, Lugo, was scoreless over his six innings the day before with the Twins scoring five after he left to get the win. While the result was good, the way to get there doesn't seem repeatable.
Skid over, helped in no small part by facing one of the worst starting pitchers. Irvin is not that as he's slightly above average in his second season. Nothing stands out about him so either the Twins are going to knock him around or he's going to pitch deep into the game.