First Pitch: 7:10p Central
Television: FOX Sports North; MLB Network (out-of-market); fubo.tv (subscription)
Radio (English): W-C-C-O 830 AM, Treasure Island Baseball Network
Radio (Spanish): twinsbeisbol.com
Know The Foe: Pinstripe Alley
Last night, the Minnesota Twins did a Star Trek thing and beat the Evil Empire - that is, the New York Yankees - and C.C. Sabathia via dongs, songs, and the first triple play in Target Field history. That being the first game of a three-game series, the Bomba Squad has a chance to - gasp - win a series against the Yanks?! with a win tonight. How much momentum would that give the Twins? A helluva lot of momentum, considering how [ i n t e r n a l s c r e a m i n g ] the bullpen has they have played lately. If they lose, well... then the rubber match is tomorrow.
The Yankees will send Domingo German to the mound tonight. He owns the most wins right now in Major League Baseball (12 total) along with an ERA of 3.38 (134 ERA+). Luck is a little on his side as his FIP is at 4.03. (And that is all the advanced metrics I’m going to dip into tonight, folks. Have a good one!) Germán will rely on a noon-to-six curve that sits in the low 80s and a four-seamer that clocks in the mid-90s. He has a couple of secondary pitches: a change-up in the high 80s and a ground-ball-inducing sinker that is in the mid-90s as well. He landed on the IL with a hip issue earlier this season and has come back guns a-blazin’ in his three starts since then: 3-0 record, 1.50 ERA, 18.0 IP, 12 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 18 K, 3 HR.
The Twins will counter with Kyle Gibson. Since the All-Star Break, we’ve seen an outing of 3.2 innings with an earned run, a walk, and five strikeouts on 80 pitches from him against Cleveland along with a seven-inning outing with six hits, three earned runs, and seven strikeouts on 106 pitches against Oakland. It’d be cool if he could copy-and-paste that performance against the Athletics to tonight, you know, get the bullpen some rest, you know...
GO TWIMS GO