Twins at Rangers
The Minnesota Twins saw their bullpen blow another lead in a rare road loss Wednesday in Milwaukee. They'll try for a quick bounceback effort when they continue a six-game road trip with the first of four contests against the Texas Rangers on Thursday.
Minnesota won the opener against the Brewers to give it an 8-3 road mark since the All-Star break, but Sergio Romo surrendered a three-run homer in the eighth inning in Wednesday's 6-5 loss that left the first-place Twins a half-game up on Cleveland in the American League Central. Minnesota, which has five blown saves in August, hit three home runs in the loss to push its MLB-leading total to 233 and will take aim at Texas rookie Pedro Payano in the series opener in Arlington. Texas salvaged the finale of an otherwise ugly series in Toronto with a 7-3 win Wednesday afternoon behind four hits from Elvis Andrus and homers by Nomar Mazara and Danny Santana. The Rangers had dropped six of their previous seven, including the first two against the Blue Jays by a combined score of 22-4.
TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, FS North (Minnesota), FS Southwest (Texas)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Twins LH Devin Smeltzer (1-2, 3.66 ERA) vs. Rangers RH Pedro Payano (1-1, 3.86)
Smeltzer's solid run came to an end against Cleveland on Friday, when he was reached for six runs over 4 1/3 innings. He is 1-0 with a 0.84 ERA in four games (two starts) against teams other than the Indians, including 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball in relief versus Texas earlier in the year. The New Jersey native has yielded just one home run in 19 2/3 innings over his last four outings.
Payano will be making his fourth straight start after two relief appearances earlier in the season. He suffered his first career loss at Milwaukee on Saturday after giving up two runs and five hits with three walks over three innings. The 24-year-old, who tossed a scoreless inning out of the bullpen against the Twins on July 6, has made just one prior appearance at home, letting up two earned runs in 4 1/3 frames against Detroit on Aug. 4.
WALK-OFFS
1. Minnesota's bullpen has a 5.44 ERA in August.
2. Mazara went 4-for-9 with two homers, two doubles, two RBIs and four runs scored in the series in Toronto.
3. Twins RHP Sam Dyson has two scoreless innings of relief since coming off the injured list Tuesday after allowing six runs in two-thirds of a frame through his first two appearances with the team.