A fresh start at home cannot come soon enough for the Minnesota Twins.
The Twins, who are reeling from a five-game losing streak to finish their recent road trip, will return to familiar surroundings when they open a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox on Monday evening in Minneapolis.
Minnesota is coming off a 9-3 drubbing by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon. The Twins have been outscored 46-21 during their five-game skid, surrendering six or more runs in each of those contests.
After dropping three of four to the White Sox, the Twins were swept by the Pirates.
“It’s just one of the lulls that were in right now,” Twins infielder Brooks Lee said. “It’s been a tough road trip, just the guys we faced. I feel like the White Sox are an underrated team, definitely their (pitching staff) is. We’re just going to keep competing.”
The bad news for the Twins is that the White Sox are the first opponent due up in their seven-game homestand. The Twins will also host the Kansas City Royals for four games.
Chicago has won five games in a row and will look to make it a season-high six Monday.
Although the White Sox haven’t officially announced a starter, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that right-hander David Sandlin (1-0, 1.50 ERA) will start the opener.
He’ll have big shoes to fill as he follows up on his stellar big league debut against the Twins last Wednesday. He took the mound in Chicago and held the Twins to one run on one hit in six innings. He walked none and struck out four.
Sandlin allowed a leadoff home run against Byron Buxton and retired the next 18 batters he faced.
“It was great for him to have that success, especially in his debut,” White Sox pitching coach Zach Bove said. “But the next day is like, ‘What went well? What are some things we can do better?’ And then it’s on to the next week.
“Obviously, he’s facing the same team, so we’re not going to overthink that. He’s kind of familiar with those guys, (and) they’re familiar with him.”
The Twins will counter with right-hander Joe Ryan (3-3, 2.94), who is set to make his 13th start of the season. Ryan has recorded four consecutive quality starts, including during his most recent effort against the White Sox, whom he held to two runs on five hits in 7 2/3 innings last Tuesday.
This will be Ryan’s eighth career start against the White Sox. He is 3-0 with a 3.21 ERA in his first seven meetings.
Ryan could face some pressure to go deep into the game in the series opener. Minnesota is down several injured pitchers, and right-hander Zebby Matthews could not make it out of the fifth inning in Sunday’s finale against the Pirates.
Twins right-hander Mike Paredes made his major league debut, saving the team’s thin pitching depth by tossing the final 3 2/3 innings.
“He saved our bullpen,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “Our bullpen’s been extremely taxed. We had a bunch of guys down (Sunday) with the usage we’ve had over this road trip.”
The Twins are 15-14 at home this season. The White Sox are 12-16 on the road.
–Field Level Media
