First Pitch: 1:10 pm CDT

TV: Bally Sports North / ~ / Radio: TIBN

Not to be outdone by Twinkie Town’s very own Matt Monitto, I trudged out of my home and made my own arudous trek to the ballpark — not to New York City, and not to Boston, but roughly three miles from my home in the direction of the Warehouse District (airlines hate him! Three weird travel hacks...) Beat that, sucker.

I come bearing one of many $4 ballpark entry tickets I purchased when they were offered during the pre-season, which I carefully deployed on cool promotional days. Today, I’ll be lining up in the search for a Byron Buxton replica jersey (and then will probably try to pick up one of those hoodies with the new flag logo, at which point I will be somewhat insulated from a weather forecast dancing right around the forty-degree mark.)

But enough about me; I just know those of you on the mailing list for my bi-hourly blog are already moaning, “We know, we know! Get on with it!”

Ever the crowd-pleaser, that’s exactly what I will do.

The Twins are coming off the kind of baseball game that makes you say “yes, that was an April evening in Minneapolis.” While they’ll hope for even more offense today, they may be content with another 2-3 runs — provided that Pablo Lopez continues to do the things that make him Pablo Lopez.

The new Twins frontliner is making his second home start, and his first after signing an extension to keep him in Minnesota through the 2027 season. His last time out, he pitched into the eighth inning against the White Sox, allowing just three hits and striking out ten. It’s entirely possible he produces similar results against a struggling Washington hitting corps.

The Nationals will run out Mr. Chad Kuhl, who’s bounced around as a National League starter since debuting in 2016. He’s been running a slider/sinker mix for much of the year, and ranks quite poorly in basically all quality-of-contact statistics. Simply put, the 8.59 ERA isn’t due to bad luck.

Hope you enjoy the game — GO TWINS GO!