Kenta Maeda v. Matthew Boyd
I feel like the Twins have faced Matthew Boyd at least once a week for the past 6 years (checking b-r, and ... yep this will be his 274th career start against Minnesota). He's coming off a start cut short by injury and a skipped turn in the rotation so he hasn't pitched since April 29.
Another Sunday means another rubber match for this series. I think a series win over the Tigers is a pretty reasonable aspiration.
It's been a while since I posted a game log. Let's see what happened since my last one...
Oh....oh no.
Well thank goodness we're done with those dominant Rangers, and can move on to the Tigers in our battle for last place. Lucky for the Twins, they're pitching Matt Shoemaker, so that should give them a great advantage in losing ground to the Tigers.
I'm having trouble thinking of anything to write that isn't even more negative than that opening paragraph, so maybe we'll just let this sit here for bit...
Go Twins!
Game Time - 12:10 p.m. CDT
Ass-bats and ass-arms. Either the Twins are a better team than their record indicates, or this isn't going to be the team I thought it was going to be. But it's still early and I take solace in the conventional wisdom that the front office has two months to figure out what's broke and two months to fix it. I'd suggest, though, that they don't need another month of figuring and can move directly on to the fixing at this point.
Big Mike starts off the slinging for the Twins today, he's 2-1 with a 2.30 ERA and 27 strikeouts in five starts and you can't ask for much more than that. Jordan Lyles takes the mound for the Rangers in the matinee sporting a 1-2 record with a 7.39 ERA. He was roughed up to the tune of five runs over four innings by the Red Sox in his last start and he's given up 12 over his last two, so there may be opportunity to put some crooked numbers on the board. Play ball!
Yang
vs
Thorpe
Praying for a real game today. The Twins are good at those.
Lineup:
Buxton - CF
Donaldson - 3B
Cruz - DH
Garlick - LF
Garver - C
Polanco - 2B
Kepler - RF
Sanó - 1B
Simmons - SS
Twins have been showing some signs of life lately with timely bats and decent starting pitching so why not finally bring Kyle Gibson to the mound to keep that winning streak going. Wait, I'm being told that Kyle Gibson is now pitching for the Rangers and he's been good Gibby?
Yes, Kyle Gibson has a 3.0 record for the Rangers, was their opening day starter and has earned that honor with a dang good season so far. Fun to see him do well but we all know it's time for bad Gibby to show is head sometime so why not tonight?
J.A. Happ for the Twins and he's been a pleasant surprise with a 2.0 record and 1.96 ERA.
Nice night for a ballgame if you can get in. 6:40p start.
Twins Lineup:
It's a baseball game! Check it out!
Another Sunday game, another rubber match. The Royals and Twins have matching 8-run wins so far in this series. This game won't have to be all that close to be the biggest nail-biter of the series.
Jose Berrios v. Brad Keller
The fact that Alex Kirilloff is already getting comfortable against the Royals fills me with gladness. Here's to many long years of constant dingers against a division rival.
The Twins are 8-15. The Royals are 15 - 8. The Twins were expected to dominate most teams. The Royals were not. The Twins have stars and players you have heard of. The Royals have... I suppose a 25 man roster?
The last few years it has seemed like the Royals played the Twins harder than most teams. Even when they were winning, the Twins really had to work for it. Let's hope this year reverses that trend too, with dominant Twins wins.
For the Twins Pineda will be taking the hill, looking to bounce back from a rough outing last time, but still sporting some excellent numbers overall. Brady Singer will be pitching for the Royals. Keeping up the mirror theme, he had his best outing of the season last time (though he hasn't been a slouch overall), so hopefully he also bounces back to serve up a ton of dingers this game.
J.A. Happ
vs
Logan Allen
Lineup:
Buxton - CF
Donaldson - 3B
Cruz - DH
Polanco - 2B
Garver - C
Rooker - RF
Astudillo - 1B
Simmons - SS
Kirilloff - LF
