Twins look to avoid sweep against NL Cy Young award candidate Chris Sale

The Minnesota Twins will look to avoid a sweep against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night as they face a familiar foe on the mound.

Left-hander Chris Sale will face the Twins for the 31st time in his long career, as Minnesota saw a lot of the southpaw when he came up with the Chicago White Sox.

In 30 appearances, Sale is 11-6 with 3.81 ERA, 187 strikeouts and two saves against the Twins, according to Statmuse.

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His most recent appearance happened on April 18, 2023, when Sale pitched six dominant innings for the Boston Red Sox against Minnesota, striking out 11 while allowing one run on three hits and walking two.

Sale is one of the leading candidates for Comeback Player of the Year and the National League Cy Young award, as he's 14-3 with a 2.62 ERA (best in MLB) in 24 starts this season. According to Fangraphs, he's also leading the Braves' roster in total WAR at 5.4.

He's been dominant in his past three starts, allowing only four runs in 20 innings of work while striking out 26. In his past seven starts, he's 2-0 with a 2.32 ERA and 55 strikeouts.

However, the Twins have gotten to him in the past and have a shot to do it again Wednesday night. But it's been quite some time since that happened.

Sale allowed six runs on nine hits in 6.2 innings of work on June 24, 2015 against the Twins in a losing effort. On April 30 of that same year, he allowed nine runs (eight earned) on nine hits in three innings of work. It remains the only time he's ever allowed that many runs in a game.

In case you're wondering, the Twins finished with a 83-79 record, second in the American League Central behind the Kansas City Royals, who ended up winning the World Series. Joe Mauer and Torii Hunter were still playing that season, along with Brian Dozier, Aaron Hicks, Miguel Sano and Trevor Plouffe.

Carlos Santana enters Wednesday night's matchup with the most at-bats against Sale during his career. In 45 at-bats, he's hit .311 with an .811 OPS and two homers. Manuel Margot also has limited success against the southpaw, hitting .429 with an .858 OPS against Sale in seven at-bats.

Margot is hitting leadoff and Santana is batting cleanup, the Twins announced.

David Festa will take the mound for the Twins, as he's hoping for a better start after his 3.2 inning-appearance against the St. Louis Cardinals last week, giving up three runs, three hits, two walks and striking out eight for his third loss of the season. He has yet to go over five innings in a ballgame since being called up in late June.