Kansas City Royals vs Minnesota Twins Series Preview
The Minnesota Twins are currently sitting at 54-65, 11 games below the .500 mark, and are fresh off a 2-1 series win over the Houston Astros. Over the weekend and into Monday, the Twins will welcome the AL Central leading Kansas City Royals into Minneapolis and Target Field. With a four game series on the docket, the Twins will have a tough test.
In Houston, Yohan Pino made his last start for the Twins and will be sent back to Triple-A Rochester. Outside of Pino’s start however, both Tommy Milone and Kyle Gibson pitched wonderfully.
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Looking ahead to the Royals series, the pitching matchups all look to excite.
Starting off the series on Friday night, Danny Duffy will be on the bump for the Royals, while Ricky Nolasco will be making his return to the rotation for the Twins. Duffy is 2-0 with a 3.12 ERA in his last three starts. He has been solid this season for Kansas City and will look to keep it rolling. Nolasco will be making his first start off the DL and will be looking to lower his season 5.90 ERA.
On Saturday, the series best matchup will get underway. Rookie fireballer Yordano Ventura will face off against Phil Hughes for the Twins. Ventura is also 2-0 in his last three starts and has a 2.37 ERA and 20 strikeouts across those contests. Hughes actually has pitched to the same tune going 2-1 with a 2.37 ERA and 21 strikeouts in his last three outings.
If you have some free time on Saturday night and can get to Target Field, the pitching matchup will be one of the better ones throughout the latter part of the season.
Sunday the Royals will send Jeremy Guthrie to the mound and he will face off against Tommy Milone. Guthrie’s 2-1 record with a 2.75 ERA in his last three could be even better. He gave up 11 hits and six runs across 4.2 innings in his last outing against the Athletics.
Milone will be making his second start for the Twins, following up a 4-2 win over the Astros in which he struck out five and walked three.
In the series finale, the Royals will send Jason Vargas to the bump. Vargas is 1-1 with a 2.95 ERA across his last three contests. Following a recent appendectomy, he has been very impressive. Twins prospect, Trevor May, will be making his second big league start on Sunday. He will be looking to bounce back after a performance that saw him walk seven Astros across just two innings.
Look for Milone to beat Guthrie in game three of the series, and a potential bounce back opportunity for May over Vargas. Considering how hot the Royals have been of late (9-1 in their last ten), I see Kansas City taking three out of four from the Twins at Target Field.