Game 126: White Sox at Twins

First Pitch: 7:10p Central
Television: FOX Sports North; fubo.tv (subscription)
Radio (English): WCCO 830 AM, Treasure Island Baseball Network
Radio (español): twinsbeisbol.com
Know Thine Enemy: South Side Sox

The Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox meet tonight for the middle match of a three-game set tonight at Target Field. The Bomba Squad tried to get a win using a helluva ton of singles last night but couldn’t pull through, so a win is needed tonight to get a chance to win the series tomorrow afternoon. The loss dropped their lead to two games above the Cleveland Indians.

Today is Diversity Day at Target Field, which is interspersed within Diversity Week in the Twins organisation. The CSE Dance group, who is part of the Community School of Excellence (CSE), teaches about the Hmong culture through dance and music and will perform on field tonight. The Twins also pride themselves in being inclusive throughout the year, and not only just the season. Within the season, the Twins organisation participates in Jackie Robinson Day and Roberto Clemente Day, hosts Pride Night at Target Field, and provides Spanish radio broadcasts for select games, which includes Twins legend Tony Oliva in the broadcast booth. You can check out more about the Twins’ diversity events on the team’s page here.

The Twins will rely on Michael Pineda to take on the White Sox hitters tonight. This will be his second start after returning from another stint on the Injured List and his first start yielded a good line in a win against the Texas Ranger: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. He has faced the Pale Hose twice in Chicago this year, yielding favorable results: 2 starts, 2.08 ERA, 13.0 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 2 B, 13 K, 0.923 WHIP. 9 K/9. He hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a start since June 23 in Kansas City against the Royals, where he allowed five earned runs; he’s gone at least five innings in each start since April 18. How do you like them apples?

The White Sox will counter with Reynaldo Lopez, who went to Chicago with Lucas Giolito (who the Twins will see tomorrow) via a trade with the Washington Nationals for Adam Eaton after the 2016 season. He’s seen the Twins once this year, starting the contest on May 24 and going 3.2 innings, allowing seven hits and eight earned runs with at least three of those runs off of bombas. López has improved since the All-Star Break when he closed out the first half with a 6.34 ERA. The 25-year-old has started seven games and has logged 43.1 innings of work, allowing only two homers during that time on the way to a 2.91 ERA. Hopefully the Bomba Squad can get to him like they did in May.

GO TWIMS GO