Through the first week of the season, things are looking pretty decent for the Minnesota Twins.
After starting the year 4-0, Minnesota has managed to only win two of its last five games. Granted, two of those losses came against absolute buzzsaw starts in Sandy Alcántara and Jesús Luzardo, and two of those wins came against the Astros.
The fact that the Twins offense folded once it met good starting pitching is a bit concerning, but the takeaway is how great Minnesota's rotation has been to start the year.
Minnesota walked off Houston to open its season at Target Field and managed to outlast the Astros in a shootout on Saturday. The Twins failed to pull off the sweep on Sunday, but are hoping to carry the momentum of a series win into its first bout of the year with the Chicago White Sox.
Minnesota Twins starting lineup today vs. Chicago White Sox (April 10, 2023)
Carlos Correa was in the original lineup that was submitted, but ended up being a late scratch. The reason turned out to be back tightness that kept him out of Sunday's series finale against the Astros, an injury that Rocco Baldelli reportedly thought would last 1-2 days.
Without Correa in the lineup, it'll be a scrappy ragtag team of rebels heading to the plate to try and get the first win against Chicago this year.
Byron Buxton is getting a day off, with Jose Miranda replacing him as DH. Buxton still isn't playing the field, which means the Twins will be playing with an extremely short bench.
Here's a look at today's lineup that will be trying to get Kenta Maeda his first win of the season:
Batting Order | Player | Position |
|---|---|---|
1 | Trevor Larnach | RF |
2 | Jose Miranda | DH |
3 | Donovan Solano | 1B |
4 | Nick Gordon | 2B |
5 | Kyle Farmer | SS |
6 | Matt Wallner | RF |
7 | Willi Castro | 3B |
8 | Christian Vazquez | C |
9 | Michael A. Taylor | CF |
At first glance, it's a less than ideal lineup for the Twins to trot out against Dylan Cease. However, Trevor Larnach is on an absolute heater right now and Kyle Farmer has stepped up in big moments so far this year.
Wallner, Castro, and Vazquez didn't regularly see Cease last season, nor did Solano. So for as much as the lineup looks new for the Twins, it might take a trip or two through the order for Cease to settle in.
Then again, Cease makes up one half of a pretty decent pitching duo for the Sox. Chicago's staff has been shaky so far this year, but Cease has been pretty consistenly great which is bad news for the Twins.
Minnesota was rolling to start the season, but immedietly locked up once facing decent pitching. Cease qualifies as that and more, so it will be intersting to see how the Twins respond to yesterday's loss against Houston with a lineup that doesn't feature Correa, Buxton, or Gallo.
How to watch the Minnesota Twins today: Twins vs White Sox live stream, start time, TV channel, and radio (April 10)
The first three home games for the Twins sounded a little different if you were watching on Bally Sports North. Dick Bremer missed his first home opener in four decades after testing positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, which means Cory Provus took over duties in the booth.
Provus will return to the radio side of things when Bremer returns, which is expected to happen during this series against the White Sox.
Here's how to catch today's first game of the season against the hated Chicago White Sox:
- Date: Sunday, April 10th
- Time: 1:10 p.m. CT
- TV Channel: Bally Sports North
- Live Stream: fuboTV (Try for free) | MLB.tv
- Radio: TIBN, The Wolf 102.9 FM, WCCO 830AM