Game 90: Twins at Astros

First Pitch: 6:10 PM CDT

TV: FSN
Radio: Go 96.3, TIBN
Know Thyne Enemy: The Crawfish Boxes

This season, the Twins have a consistent track record against the Houston Astros, facing them four times, losing all four times, and giving up between 10 and 17 runs three of four times. Tonight, we'll try to stymie that suckitude!

Ervin Santana (2.99 ERA, 4.68 FIP, 6.8 K/9, 1.3 fWAR) pitched 7 innings of 2-run ball against Houston on May 29th, the first time we faced them this season. If you've blocked it out of your memory, let me remind you -- we were up 8-2 when Big Erv exited, then gave up 11 runs in the 8th and 3 more in the 9th and lost 16-8. The silver lining here is that maybe Ervin can build off his previous success. Hands-down, he's turned in the best starting pitching performance that we have against the 'Stros in 2017.

Starting for Houston today is 24-year-old Joe "Everything" Musgrove (6.04 ERA, 5.07 FIP, 7.6 K/9, 0.4 fWAR.) Musgrove has never faced the Twins in his young career as a back-end Houston starter, so here's a brief primer: in his last three starts, Musgrove has pitched 15 innings, has given up 6 homers, has given up 23 hits, and has a 10.80 ERA. Certainly, Musgrove is hoping that the All-Star Break has given him enough time to regain his mojo. We're hoping otherwise.

A victory tonight would snap a three-game losing streak and give us a chance to win the series tomorrow. A loss would make it a four-game skid and see us staring down the wrong end of a sweep on Sunday. As with everything in sports, the right course of action is generally subjective, so I've included a poll to sort of parse through opinions on this controversial crossroads.

Go Twins Go!