Series Preview: Reds come to town, maybe the Twins can beat them?

The last week wasn’t a lot of fun, as the Twins skidded through a seven game losing streak, dropping series to the Rays and the Yankees. Fortunately, the current “worst team in baseball” is coming to town. The Reds are currently at 5-20, and have already fired their manager. Hopefully this is a team the Twins can get right against.

Throughout history, the Twins have played the Reds 21 times, and won eleven of those games. The most recent series took place in 2015, and Cincinnati won two of those three games. Phil Hughes was the winning pitcher for the Twins, which is good, because he will be starting during this series. That 2015 series was a fairly high scoring set of games, with the Twins putting up 16 runs, and the Reds scoring 18.

As mentioned, Phil Hughes starts game one for the Twins. He only went 3.1 innings in his first start this year, a few days ago at Tampa. He’s on the hook for 15 at-bats against the current Reds, and his given up six hits, including a home run. Luis Castillo is the starter for the Reds. He isn’t the infielder who spent a couple years with the Twins, but rather a young pitcher who the Twins have never faced.

Game two brings the Twins rotation back around to Jake Odorizzi, He has held the Reds to five hits in 27 at bats, but two of those are home runs. Hopefully he can limit the long ball in this outing. He faces another young pitcher in Sal Romano. Like Castillo, the Twins have not batted against Romano.

For the final game, the Twins will put Jose Berrios on the mound. Berrios has never faced any Reds. Tyler Mahle, on the mound for the Reds, hasn’t faced the Twins either. Notice a trend here?

Pitching Match-ups

Game 1: Friday, April 27th; 7:10 pm CT — Phil Hughes RHP vs Luis Castillo RHP

Game 2: Saturday, April 28th; 1:10 pm CT -- Jake Odorizzi RHP vs. Sal Romano RHP

Game 3: Sunday, April 29th; 1:10 pm CT — Jose Berrios RHP vs. Tyler Mahle RHP