FIRST PITCH: 640p Central
TELEVISION: Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN), ESPN Application (why?)
RADIO: WCCO 830 AM “News/Talk”, KMNB 102.9 FM “The Wolf”, Pablo López Baseball Network, Audacy Application
KNOW THE FOE: Royals Review
The Minnesota Twins look to salvage something… anything… from this series with the Kansas City Royals. The series is lost, but they have one more chance to achieve a lot: leave K. C. with a win in their pocket, leave K. C. with the first win of the month,
and, well, just leave Kansas City. Luckily, the American League Central teams the Twins are chasing are also hitting a rough patch: both the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Spiders have lost their last two going into today; the Sox are 5-5 in their last ten games while the Spiders are 3-7, but the Twins can’t take advantage. Unluckily, the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners – who just took a series against Minnesota this past weekend – are now lock-step with Twins in the A. L. Wild Card race. Lastly, while the Twins may have had the Detroit Tigers by the tail (it was plain to see), the Tigers have Minnie and Paul by the tail as they’re a half-game behind them.
The Twins offense have a slightly better chance at getting to a Royals starter as Kansas City will call upon Michael Wacha. Minnesota touched him up in early June to the tune of eight hits, five runs (four earned), no walks, and only two strikeouts. Wacha had a bit of a struggle in July as well, putting up a 4.25 ERA/4.81 FIP in 29.2 innings of work during five starts; the Royals went 2-3 during his starts in that timeframe.
On the flip side, Bailey Ober will answer the call for Minnesota. He faced the Royals a week ago today and went six strong innings, allowing only four hits, a couple of walks, and three runs (two earned) while striking out three. The Twins offense were nowhere to be found until Kody Clemens’ super-cool grand salami put things to rest. Historically, Ober has been notoriously “Not Good” against the Royals in his career. He’s started against them 15 times and has a 4.60 ERA against them. The ERA jumps to 5.02 when it’s narrowed down to Kauffman Stadium.
As always, GO TWIMS GO!
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