Minnesota Twins vs Kansas City Royals Series Preview
The Minnesota Twins are in the midst of an off day today as they head to Kansas City to take on the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. After dropping three of four to the division rival Chicago White Sox, the Twins will be looking to right the ship against the Royals.
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For Kansas City, the Royals welcome the Twins into town after a series win, taking three of four, against the Cleveland Indians. In their last ten, the Royals have played .500 baseball and will be looking to capitalize off of the reeling Twins.
To open the series, Kyle Gibson will be back on the mound. After being scratched again on Saturday, he will make his re-entrance into the starting rotation. Gibson will face the Royals aces, James Shields, in game one. Gibson will be hoping to put his past clunker against the Rays behind him and get back on track. Shields will be looking for his 10th win of the season.
Game two will feature Phil Hughes taking on Danny Duffy. Hughes started out the season in strong fashion for the Twins. While he had a rocky first couple weeks, he came on strong and looked like an All-Star. Since, it has been more downhill than anything. Hughes will take the mound after having his last start cut short thanks to taking a comebacker off his right shin.
Duffy is 0-2 in his last three starts, but he has pitched to a 0.92 ERA while striking out 15. He has been bit by an offense that has failed to provide run support. The Royals will be looking to change that in game two.
For the final game of the series, the Twins will send Kevin Correia to the mound and he will be opposed by the young fireballer, Yordano Ventura. Correia has followed up a strong June by regressing in a big way through July. Ventura is coming off a seven strikeout performance against the Indians, his most since May 15.
The Twins find themselves 10 games below .500 at 47-57 while the Royals are at 53-51 trying to close the gap with the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers. In the three game set, the Twins should have a good shot to win the middle game against Duffy. I see the Twins taking one out of three from the Royals.
First pitch for Tuesday’s game is set for 7:10 and can be seen on Fox Sports North.