The Twins were big-time sellers at last year’s trade deadline, making many feel they were going for a rebuild. But they retained big stars like Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan, and have been a fairly middling team this year hovering near .500 most of the year. They have lost six of their last eight games, and they lost their earlier series against the Royals in Kansas City at the start of the season.
Kansas City Royals (24-38) vs. Minnesota Twins (29-34) at Target Field, Minneapolis, MN
Royals: 3.84 runs
scored/game (29th in MLB), 4.65 runs allowed/game (21st)
Twins: 4.60 runs scored/game (10th), 4.98 runs allowed/game (24th)
Byron Buxton is sixth among all American League outfielders with a 132 wRC+, and is tied for the third-most home runs in all of baseball with 17. Luke Keaschall is hitting .302/.396/.395 in his last 26 games. Trevor Larnach is hitting .284/.442/.418 at home. Austin Martin is hitting .306/.457/.435 against lefties.
Brooks Lee has been one of the worst defenders in baseball in Outs Above Average at -7. The Twins have just a 71 percent success rate on stolen bases, one of the lowest in baseball. The Twins have allowed more stolen bases than any team in baseball, and have only thrown out 17 percent of attempts.
Rookie Andrew Morris will get the start Thursday after spending most of this season in the bullpen. He likely won’t be stretched out to go deep in the game – his longest outing this year is 3.2 innings. The 24-year old had a 4.09 ERA in 94.2 innings as a starter in Triple-A last year. Seth Lugo has a career 7.29 ERA in 21 innings at Target Field.
The Friday game will air exclusively on Apple TV. Zebby Matthews has made 29 career MLB starts and has a 5.71 ERA. He allowed just two runs in 13 innings at home this year. Byron Buxton is 0-for-10 in his career matchups against Michael Wacha.
Joe Ryan has been the sixth-most valuable pitcher in baseball, according to Fangraphs WAR. He has the 12th-highest strikeout rate and the sixth-lowest walk rate. He is 8-2 with a 2.58 ERA in 12 career starts against the Royals.
Rookie Connor Prielipp was ranked as the #5 prospect in the Twins organization by MLB Pipeline before the season. He has given up 16 runs in 14.1 innings over his last three starts. He throws a 95 mph fastball and relies heavily on a slider that opponents are hitting just .157 against with a 30 percent whiff rate.
The Twins have a 4.75 ERA out of their bullpen, eighth-worst in baseball, with the second-lowest strikeout rate, and sixth-highest walk rate. The team acquired Yoendrys Gómez from the Rays, and he has allowed just one earned run in 12.2 innings since the trade, picking up three saves. Lefties are hitting .186/.314/.279 against Anthony Banda.
The Royals are facing a team with a few elite talents, but with a roster largely filled with castoffs and underperformers. The Twins should be a team the Royals can beat, but with a league-worst 9-21 record on the road, every opponent away from Kansas City will be a challenge.
