Game 65: Indians at Twins

First Pitch: 1:10 PM CT
TV: FSN
Radio: TIBN, GO 96.3
Know THINE Enemy: Let's Go Tribe

Today YOUR Minnesota Twins take on THEIR Cleveland Indians, not once, not twice -- well, yes, twice. Just two times. It’s a doubleheader. The first of these two matchups will involve a sheer battle of wills, with crowd favorite Adam Wilk taking on Indians legend Ryan Merritt.

Wilk will make his first start for the Twins after pitching in relief twice for Minnesota. In those appearances, he’s walked five and struck out four, thrown two wild pitches, and given up a pair of homers. In his only start this year, Wilk powered his way through 3.2 IP, allowing five earned runs on eight hits, largely courtesy of a trio of jacks. This will be the fourth appearance of 2017 for the potential Cy Young Award candidate.

On the flip side, you have Merritt, who the Twins have faced just once -- on August 4th, 2016. Merritt pitched a scoreless inning of relief in one of just four outings for Cleveland last year (five if you count the ALCS game he started that was his lone postseason appearance.) Merritt has a 3.96 ERA and 6.9 K/9 in 72.2 innings at the Triple-A level in 2017.

A win right now would bring Cleveland into a tie with the Twins for the first time in two weeks, and another win later tonight would put the Indians alone in first for the first time since May 10th. Personally, I vote we don’t let that happen, but things like that aren’t up to me. They’re up to kenzertz, and he is a fickle being.