Twins at White Sox
Nelson Cruz looks to continue his impressive home-run stretch when the Minnesota Twins visit the Chicago White Sox on Friday for the second contest of their four-game series. Cruz recorded the first three-homer performance of his career in Thursday's 10-3 victory, giving him six blasts in his last four games and eight in his last nine.
Max Kepler and Miguel Sano also went deep in the opener as Minnesota set a major-league record with its ninth game with at least five homers while raising its league-high season total to 199. "Baseball is crazy," Cruz said in a postgame interview with Fox Sports North. "I know, for sure, we have a pretty good team and we keep hitting homers." Chicago has dropped 11 of its last 14 contests and has scored only four runs while losing its last three. Yoan Moncada, who hit his 19th homer of the season for the White Sox, has gone deep in three of his last eight contests.
TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, FS North (Minnesota), NBCS Chicago Plus
PITCHING MATCHUP: Twins RH Michael Pineda (6-5, 4.41 ERA) vs. White Sox RH Dylan Cease (1-2, 6.19)
Pineda registered eight strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings of a no-decision against Oakland in his last start, giving up three runs and four hits while matching his career high of five walks, The 30-year-old Dominican allowed just one earned run in each of his previous three turns, going 2-1 with 20 strikeouts against two walks. Pineda defeated Chicago on June 29, when he struck out eight batters while permitting one run and four hits over six frames to improve to 2-3 with a 3.19 ERA in five career outings against the White Sox.
Cease is making his fourth start since being recalled from the minors earlier this month. The 23-year-old yielded four runs and three hits in five innings while losing to Tampa Bay in his last outing, with the runs coming on a grand slam by Travis d'Arnaud. Cease has served up three homers in 16 frames and has registered 17 strikeouts while issuing nine walks.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Twins have belted 17 homers over their last four games.
2. Chicago CF Adam Engel recorded two hits in the series opener for his fourth multi-hit effort in seven contests.
3. Minnesota activated CF Byron Buxton (concussion), who went 2-for-4 and scored twice on Thursday, from the 10-day injured list and optioned RF Jake Cave to Triple-A Rochester.