Game 55: Cleveland at Twins

First Pitch: 1:10 pm CDT
TV: FSN
Radio: 830 WCCO, TIBN, La Raza
Know Thy Enemy: Let's Go Tribe

The Minnesota Twins have found ways to win the last couple nights, and look to finish the series with a third victory in a row. To that end, Kyle Gibson will look to keep Cleveland off balance. The veteran righty has been getting noticed lately for his filthy, filthy pitching. His ERA is a career best 3.57, and his 3.49 FIP says he's pretty much earned it. Despite how good he has been, his team has found a way to lose games he's started more often than he deserves, and his record is a paltry 1-3. Can they get him that elusive second win tonight?

Mike Clevinger starts for Cleveland While we all hope he struggles, that will be a bit of a tough order -- He's been pretty darn good this year as well. His ERA is 3.14, and his FIP matches at 3.15. The Twins haven't faced him often, and what they have seen of him was earlier in his career, so lets hope they can keep the bats alive.

The bats, afterall, are the real story of this series. In all three games so far, including the comeback-that-wasn't, and both victories, the Twins have scored quite a few runs. During the month of May, runs were often quite hard to come by, so its very encouraging that they have gotten to Cleveland's pitching staff.

If the Twins win today, they will only be 3.5 games out of first place. If they lose, they will be 5.5 games back, and that makes this game pretty darn big, for the eventual pennant race.