Twins at Indians
Francisco Lindor looks to follow up a standout performance in the series opener when his Cleveland Indians host the American League Central-leading Minnesota Twins for the second of a three-game set Wednesday. Lindor belted a pair of homers among three hits in a 5-2 victory Tuesday and the All-Star shortstop is a gaudy 6-for-7 in the last two contests to push his batting average to .306.
Lindor is 14-for-34 with eight walks, three blasts and eight RBIs over the last nine games for the Indians, who are still 10 1/2 games behind the Twins in the division with just five victories in their past 15 contests. Right-hander Carlos Carrasco looks to turn his fortunes around in his first start of June when he gets the ball for Cleveland on Wednesday and Minnesota sends lefty Martin Perez to the mound in a battle of Venezuela natives. Marwin Gonzalez and Eddie Rosario provided the only offense with solo homers for the Twins, who saw their streak of games in which they have scored at least three runs end at a single-season club record of 26 games. Minnesota shortstop Jorge Polanco was held to one hit in four at-bats in the series opener, but has recorded multiple hits in 10 of his last 19 games and is second in the AL with a .336 average.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, FS North (Minnesota), STO (Cleveland)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Twins LH Martin Perez (7-2, 3.71 ERA) vs. Indians RH Carlos Carrasco (4-6, 4.98)
Perez comes in off his worst start of the season last Thursday when he allowed six runs on six hits over 2 2/3 innings at Tampa Bay. The 28-year-old, in his first season with the Twins, had given up seven total runs across 37 2/3 innings in his previous six starts with a 5-1 record during that run. Carlos Santana is 7-for-11 with a homer versus Perez, who beat the Indians with 3 2/3 innings of three-run ball in relief on March 31.
Carrasco gave up four runs in his first three starts of May, but permitted 15 over 17 2/3 frames while losing each of the last three outings. The 32-year-old yielded six runs on a season high-tying 10 hits over 6 1/3 innings last time out versus the Chicago White Sox in a 10-4 setback. Nelson Cruz is 9-for-25 with three homers against Carrasco, who is 7-10 with a 4.05 ERA lifetime versus Minnesota.
WALK-OFFS
1. Twins DH Cruz (wrist) returned to the lineup for the first time since May 12 in the series opener and the DH went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
2. Cleveland activated OF Tyler Naquin on Tuesday and placed RHP Jefry Rodriguez (shoulder) on the 10-day injured list.
3. Rosario’s homer tied him for the AL lead with 18 and he also shares the top spot in RBIs with 50.