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After things looked good in Seattle for the Twins, all of the good left them in Oakland. The Twins try to pick things back up at home versus the Tampa Bay Rays. Here's what the Rays have been up to:
The Rays are 22-28, and have lost 9 of their last 11. They sit at the bottom of the AL East division, 9 games back. They are dealing with a couple injuries: Kevin Kiermaier, and Logan Forsythe, who are #1 and #2 on the team in bWAR. The Rays are near the bottom of the league in runs scored (23rd, 206) and have been just okay at pitching (17th, 4.11 ERA).
Who's hot:
Eduardo Nunez: 11-27 (.407/.407/.556) in his last 6 games, 13th in the majors over the last week.
Who's not:
Eduardo Escobar: 3-17, with 4 strikeouts since returning from his groin injury. I believe this shows the yin and yang of baseball, or the duality of the Eduardo's.
The Match-ups:
Game 1
Thursday, June 2nd, 7:10 PM CDT
Matt Moore vs Kyle Gibson Phil Hughes
Kyle Gibson is returning from his shoulder injury, and hopes to make a strong comeback.
Scratch that, Kyle Gibson reportedly has back stiffness, so he's remaining on the DL for now.
Game 2
Friday, June 3rd, 7:10 PM CDT
Jake Odorizzi vs Ricky Nolasco
Not much history for the Twins against Odorizzi, though Brian Dozier is 2-4 with a home run against him. In 11 starts he has a 3.36 ERA and has shown he can get a few strikeouts with a 7.4 K/9.
Game 3
Saturday, June 4th, 3:10 PM CDT
Matt Andriese vs Ervin Santana
Andriese is a young starter for the Rays, and has done well for them so far. In 5 starts he has a 2.36 ERA. He doesn't strike out many but he's only allowed one homer this year in 34.1 innings.
Game 4
Sunday, June 5th, 1:10 PM CDT
Drew Smyly vs Tyler Duffy (?)
Duffy needs to get back on track in this start, as his spot in the rotation could be in jeopardy.
Prediction: Fewer seagulls.
The Twins ran into a struggling A's team and got swept. Now they're running into a struggling Rays team, hopefully we aren't just what the Rays needed to get back into things.