Game 102: Mariners at Twins

First Pitch: 6:40 PM Central Time
TV: Bally Sports North
Radio: TIBN
Know Thine Enemy: Lookout Landing

A week ago when I was getting ready for Twins-Mariners, I was hung up on the Twins squeaking past the lowly Oakland A’s by a total of five runs over three victories. Since then, all the Twins have done is go 5-2 against competition much closer to league average, splitting a four-game set in Seattle and managing a mostly-ugly sweep over the hated Chicago White Sox.

The last round of Twins-Mariners featured a blowout win and a close win for each side. Monday night’s pitching matchup will be a rematch of last Wednesday’s tilt in Seattle, with Kenta Maeda taking on Luis Castillo in a game that the Twins ultimately won by a 6-3 score.

Both starters pitched well last time around but neither factored into the decision. Maeda went 6 ¹⁄₃ with only two earned runs allowed on three hits with no walks and nine strikeouts. Castillo threw six innings and gave up three earned runs, including solo homers to Max Kepler and Eddie Julien. Castillo also struck out 11 Twins batters, which should surprise no one.

Coming off of Sunday’s late-inning/extra-inning magic against the Sox, the Twins put Byron Buxton on the paternity list and called up Trevor Larnach from Triple-A St. Paul. Also of note, Joey Gallo is getting his first start of the season in center field; despite playing a few innings in center here are there over the last few years, he hasn’t started in that spot since 2019.

Enjoy Monday night baseball!