The Twins are returning home to Target Field Tuesday after a long, pretty successful road trip to the West Coast.
Minnesota managed to take two of three from Oakland, Arizona and Seattle on the nine-game swing keeping them at least on the heels of first place Cleveland in the AL Central. The Twins are still six games back of the Guardians who just keep winning.
"I think everyone in our clubhouse leaves this road trip in a really optimistic and positive state of mind," said Manager Rocco Baldelli. "You know, we played well, we played well consistently. We had a lot of very positive pitching performances on this road trip. We swung the bats very well. You're going out to the West Coast, you're flying all over the place, and we showed up to play in a determined fashion every day and I liked it."
Trevor Larnach hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning to extend Minnesota’s home run streak to 19 games and lift the Twins to a 5-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday.
Minnesota set a franchise record for consecutive games with a longball, but it took until the late innings. Larnach drove an 0-1 pitch from reliever Ryne Stanek (5-2) to right-center field for his eighth home run.
It's a 4th of July homestand now for the Twins as they welcome in Detroit and Houston before hitting the road one more time prior to the All-Star break (yes, it's almost midseason already).
Of note, Since the July 4 game is a day game, the Twins will host a fireworks show following Wednesday night's (7/3) game at Target Field.
SERIES PREVIEW
Detroit Tigers (38-46, fourth in the AL Central) vs. Minnesota Twins (47-37, second in the AL Central)
Minneapolis; Tuesday, 6:40 p.m. Pregame 6:00 p.m. on WCCO Radio and the Audacy App .
TUESDAY PITCHING PROBABLES: Tigers: Tarik Skubal (9-3, 2.32 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 112 strikeouts); Twins: Simeon Woods Richardson (3-1, 3.41 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 56 strikeouts).
Wednesday: Flaherty (Detroit) and Festa (Twins)
Thursday: Maeda (Detroit) and Ober (Twins)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Tigers -112, Twins -108; over/under is 7 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Minnesota Twins host the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday to start a three-game series.
Minnesota has gone 23-16 at home and 47-37 overall. The Twins are 34-6 in games when they scored at least five runs.
Detroit has a 19-24 record on the road and a 38-46 record overall. The Tigers have a 17-2 record in games when they hit at least two home runs.
The matchup Tuesday is the eighth time these teams square off this season. The Tigers have a 4-3 advantage in the season series.
TOP PERFORMERS: Carlos Correa has 15 doubles, two triples and nine home runs for the Twins. Jose Miranda is 14-for-36 with four doubles and a home run over the past 10 games.
Riley Greene leads the Tigers with 15 home runs while slugging .480. Wenceel Perez is 11-for-37 with five doubles and an RBI over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Twins: 6-4, .276 batting average, 3.23 ERA, outscored opponents by 25 runs
Tigers: 4-6, .206 batting average, 4.39 ERA, outscored by 10 runs
INJURIES: Twins: Chris Paddack: 15-Day IL (arm), Alex Kirilloff: 10-Day IL (back), Justin Topa: 60-Day IL (knee), Brock Stewart: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Daniel Duarte: 60-Day IL (tricep), Zack Weiss: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Anthony DeSclafani: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Tigers: Casey Mize: day-to-day (leg), Matthew Vierling: day-to-day (foot), Javier Baez: 10-Day IL (spine), Kerry Carpenter: 10-Day IL (spine), Sawyer Gipson-Long: 60-Day IL (groin)
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Most Popular
Comments / 0