Twins at White Sox
The Minnesota Twins are riding their power bats toward an American League Central title and a spot in the postseason and have five weeks left in the regular season to lock things up. The Twins will kick off their longest remaining road trip by visiting the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday for the opener of a three-game series.
Minnesota, which will only play 12 of its remaining 32 contests against teams with winning records, pushed its lead in the AL Central to 3 1/2 games over the Indians by finishing off a 3-3 homestand with a 7-4 victory over Detroit on Sunday. "There were a lot of positives to point to," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters. "I don’t want to say we were in need of that, I think we've been playing fine. Obviously, we want to win a few more games on a homestand, but that's going to happen. I thought today was a very nice way to end the homestand. We can hit the road and hopefully keep it going." Minnesota began that homestand by dropping two of three to the White Sox, who went on to take three of four from Texas over the weekend and are in line to play spoiler with 13 games remaining against Minnesota and Cleveland. Chicago will try to take the opener behind right-hander Lucas Giolito on Tuesday while the Twins counter with righty Michael Pineda.
TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, FS North (Minnesota), NBCS Chicago Plus
PITCHING MATCHUP: Twins RH Michael Pineda (9-5, 4.26 ERA) vs. White Sox RH Lucas Giolito (14-6, 3.20)
Pineda had a string of seven straight starts allowing three or fewer earned runs come to an end when he was reached for four runs and six hits (two home runs) in seven innings at home against Chicago last Tuesday. The Dominican Republic native still ended up with the win in a game Minnesota took 14-4 and he is 3-0 in his last five starts. One of those wins came at the White Sox on July 26, when Pineda breezed through seven innings on two runs and six hits.
Giolito recorded his second career shutout Wednesday at Minnesota, holding the Twins to three hits while striking out 12 without issuing a walk. The 25-year-old owns 36 strikeouts in 21 innings over his last three turns and posted a quality start in five consecutive outings. The last time Giolito failed to record a quality start came at home against the Twins on July 25, when he was ripped for seven runs on as many hits (four homers) in five frames.
WALK-OFFS
1. White Sox OF Leury Garcia (shin contusion) left Sunday's game and is day-to-day after x-rays came back negative.
2. Twins OF Eddie Rosario (hamstring) sat out the last three games and remains day-to-day.
3. Minnesota DH Nelson Cruz drove in at least one run in five of the last six games, bringing his season total to 83.