Minnesota Twins probable pitchers & starting lineup vs. Cleveland Guardians, May 17

After going on an incredible run over the last few weeks, the good times have come to a grinding halt for the Minnesota Twins. A 12-game winning streak helped propel the team on a run in which they went 17-6 and pulled themselves back into the AL Central race.

That’s going to be front of mind this weekend, as the Twins are not only going up against the Cleveland Guardians but desperately need to end a losing streak from growing any larger.

Minnesota was swept by the New York Yankees this week, and swept pretty badly at that. Ryan Jeffers hit a home run in the first inning of Wednesday’s game and the Twins haven’t scored a single run since. It’s the sort of troubling trend we’ve seen with this offense before, but one that Minnesota can snap out of with confidence this weekend.

Cleveland can smell blood in the water, though, and can put the Twins down bad with another dominating performance. That’s how things went the first time these two teams met, but Minnesota needs to find a way to change things up for more reasons than one.

Twins vs. Guardians probable starting pitchers, May 17

While things were less than ideal for the Twins over the last three games, Simeon Woods Richardson (1-0, 3.24 ERA) will try to get things back on track. He’ll need it as much as the Twins do, as things have been a bit unstable for Woods Richardson since he was called up back in April.

He pitched brilliantly against the Mariners, going six innings and racking up right strikeouts while allowing zero runs. That was followed up by a potential revenge start against the Blue Jays that ended with Woods Richardson getting chased in the fifth inning after allowing five runs including a pair of towering home runs.

That’s been the way things have gone for Wood Richardson so far this season, as solid starts are followed up by shakier performances. If that trend holds, though, he’s in for a bounce back start against Cleveland.

Triston McKenzie (2-3, 3.54 ERA) is on the mound for Cleveland, making his first start of the year against Minnesota. He’s been a little more consistent than Woods Richardson, but they share the same vibe in terms of finding is difficult to string together multiple solid starts.

McKenzie has been much better in May than he was in April with a 1.35 ERA over the last seven days while piling up 17 strikeouts against the White Sox, Tigers, and Astros combined. The only game over this last stretch that McKenzie has started but Cleveland has lost was against Chicago, which was hits last outing before taking the mound on Friday night.

Minnesota Twins starting lineup, May 17

Cleveland Guardians starting lineup, May 17

What time is the Minnesota Twins game tonight?

• Game time: 6:10 pm CT
• Date: Friday, May 17, 2024
• Location: Cleveland, OH
• Stadium: Progressive Field
• TV Channel: Apple TV+

How to watch Minnesota Twins game tonight

Tonight the Twins will be making their season debut on Apple’s Friday Night Baseball, their first of two appearances this year. Minnesota will play Pittsburgh later this season, which means at least a pair of games will be w idly available for fans to watch.

Apple TV+ has the exclusive rights to broadcast the game, which means it will not be on Bally Sports North. What that really means is Twins fans have a workaround to watching the game rather than being blocked like most other days.

• Bally Sports website and Bally Sports App
• MLB.tv (subscription required)
• fuboTV (which has a free trial)

The game is an Apple TV+ broadcast, but anyone who has the  MLB package through Fubo TV will be able to watch it no matter what market they are in.

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