Eduardo Rodriguez
vs
Kyle Gibson
Fourth game of the three-game series.
Twins replaced Blake Parker with Sean Poppen while the Red Sox replaced Velázquez with Josh Smith. Poppen has yet to pitch in MLB but he's done well this year in AAA (not AA though). Josh Smith has pitched 75 games over four seasons in MLB. He has not done well in AAA despite good strikeout and walk numbers.
The teams have scored nine runs over the previous 26 innings so I expect fireworks today.
Gerson Bautista
vs
Jose Berríos
One of these days I'll remember I have Wednesday's game log and not have to hastily post a log while letting the kids stall for bedtime.
Game in progress. Twins up 1-0, no homers yet.
Another game to play in this series to salvage something.
Kepler started the game off right with a home run. Berríos on the mound opposite of Bauer. I don't expect him to be with the team in August.
Martín Pérez hopes to bounce back from his bad start against the Rays. He's lost some of his luster from the beginning of the season. Before the Rays was a workable start against the Angels and a good start against the Mariners (but, Mariners).
Carrasco is an unfortunate late scratch because of health. Cleveland has opted for a bullpen game opened by Clippard.
Insert the rest of what free wrote yesterday about beating Cleveland and driving their probability to win the division to 0%. The Twins already project to have the weakest rest of schedule with an estimated .477 win percentage. The team with the next weakest are the Astros at .481.
Trevor Cahill
v
Jake Odorizzi
Odorizzi tries to keep the winning ways going. Sanó not in the starting lineup.
Kyle Gibson
vs
Trent Thornton
Gibson hopes to keep the good vibes going with another shutout tonight.
Opposing that is Thornton in his rookie campaign. He's done well this year. He strikes out a bunch of guys, walks way more than Rhu_Ru finds comfortable, and gives up some home runs. He lost his first start against the Twins in April. Let's make that two losses against the Twins!
Game off to a good start, up 1-0.
Collin McHugh
vs
Martin Pérez
The calendar rolls to May and the Twins resume starting at the usual 7:10 p.m. time. Hopefully they also resume scoring more runs than the other side.
Kohl Stewart makes his 2019 debut trying to win the rubber game of the series. He brings a 6.00 ERA from Rochester, most it it from his previous start. He surrendered six runs over 4.1 innings.
Verlander meanwhile is lossless and continuing his late career resurgence into 2019. After a promising start to the series, I'm feeling less confident about winning it now. But now is as good a time as any to break that lack of losing streak!
