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Six games behind the Twins and playing them six times in the next nine games, it’s do or die time for the Guardians. It may already be too late because the Twins play 13 of their last 16 games against teams with losing records, including some really bad teams like Oakland, Colorado, and the White Sox. But if the Guardians can gain four games on them in the next 10 days the Twins would feel the pressure.
The first series will be in Minnesota, where the Twins are 39-27 against 29-36 on the road. They are way better at home and average 4.8 runs per game at Target Field, 10th best home production in the majors. The Twins rank 6th in home runs per game with five players having 16-21 home runs. They’re 17th in OBP but 10th in slugging. Guardians’ pitchers have a 4.27 ERA on the road against 3.41 at home, and the Twins hit much better at home, so limiting their offense will be a challenge.
The good news is that Alex Kirilloff, Byron Buxton, and Willi Castro are out. That’s 30 home runs and 100 RBI’s on the injured list.
The Guardians lead the season series 4-3 with a cumulative score of Guardians 18, Twins 16. The pitchers for both teams have dominated. The Guardians’ pitchers have held the Twins to a line of .187/.586 and 2.3 runs per game. The Twins rank 7th in team ERA and the Guardians are hitting .211/.544 against them this year. With Josh Naylor out for the Guards and Kirilloff, Buxton, and Castro out for the Twins runs should be tough to come by.
Jose is 4-for-28 and Gimenez is 5-for-24 against the Twins. We need them to step up in these next six games against the Twins. The good news is we don’t face Bailey Ober, who pitched yesterday. Ober has started two games against the Guardians this year, shutting them out in 13 innings. The Twins won 1-0 and 2-0 in Ober’s two starts, so the G’s are 4-1 in games Ober did not start. Ober won't be starting this weekend in Cleveland, either. What a break for the Guardians.
The Guardians, with their backs to the wall, will go with three rookie starters while the Twins counter with three veterans. I’m sure that’s not how the Guardians envisioned this series back in March. They were probably hoping for Bieber, McKenzie, and Civale. On the bright side, the Twins only have two left-handed relievers, and one of them, Dallas Kuechel, pitched five innings yesterday in a 13-inning game. The other, Caleb Theilbar, pitched Saturday and Sunday.
Game 1 is a matchup between Xzavion Curry and Kenta Maeda, a 35-year-old right-hander who is 3-7 with a 4.22 ERA. However, in his last seven starts Maeda has an ERA of 3.03. He has not faced the Guardians this year, but current Guardian players are hitting .083 off him lifetime with one RBI in 36 AB’s. That being said, Maeda has a home ERA of 5.57 this year as opposed to 3.19 on the road. Hey, if we got four runs off Kukichi yesterday we should be able to get four off Maeda.
Curry had an ERA of 1.84 in July but it dropped to 5.03 in August as they stretch him out to become a startrer. He will have a lot of pressure on him to give the Guardians a chance to win the first game, which they pretty much have to do. Anything less than five wins out of six, which would pick up four games on the Twins, is unacceptable if the G’s want to challenge for the division.
I was hoping Bieber and McKenzie would be ready for this series, but it will be Curry, Williams, and Bibee to face Maeda, Pablo Lopez, and Sonny Gray. Lopez, who was acquired for Luis Arraez, is 9-6 with a 3.69 ERA. He’ll face Gavin Williams, who the Twins have not seen. Williams is 1-5, 3.52, having suffered from some poor run support.
Wednesday’s matinee will match Tanner Bibee with Sonny Gray, a 33-year-old right-hander. Gray is having a good year at 7-6, 3.06 ERA, but in two starts this year against the Guardians his ERA is 4.63. Bibee has a 2.17 ERA in his last 11 starts.
Christian Vasquez is 4-for-10 against the G’s while Michael A. Taylor is 5-for-13. Max Kepler is hitting only .167 but has 5 RBI’s against the Guardians. From Cleveland.com’s preview:
The Twins have hit 66 home runs since the All-Star break, tied with Seattle for second most in baseball. Ryan Jeffers is hitting .342 (27-for-79) with four doubles, six home runs, 19 RBI, 10 walks, a .441 on-base percentage, a .620 slugging percentage and a 1.061 OPS since early July.
Keeping Jeffers, Kepler, and Taylor in check will be huge. The Twins rely on pitching and power. They’re not a good road team but have been very good at home, so this series is key.
This should be a good series. All three games are winnable and the G’s have played well against the better teams this year, including the Twins. All three Twins’ starters are right-handed and they only have two lefty relievers; one or maybe both will not be available tonight. It’s now or never for the Guardians.
The first series will be in Minnesota, where the Twins are 39-27 against 29-36 on the road. They are way better at home and average 4.8 runs per game at Target Field, 10th best home production in the majors. The Twins rank 6th in home runs per game with five players having 16-21 home runs. They’re 17th in OBP but 10th in slugging. Guardians’ pitchers have a 4.27 ERA on the road against 3.41 at home, and the Twins hit much better at home, so limiting their offense will be a challenge.
The good news is that Alex Kirilloff, Byron Buxton, and Willi Castro are out. That’s 30 home runs and 100 RBI’s on the injured list.
The Guardians lead the season series 4-3 with a cumulative score of Guardians 18, Twins 16. The pitchers for both teams have dominated. The Guardians’ pitchers have held the Twins to a line of .187/.586 and 2.3 runs per game. The Twins rank 7th in team ERA and the Guardians are hitting .211/.544 against them this year. With Josh Naylor out for the Guards and Kirilloff, Buxton, and Castro out for the Twins runs should be tough to come by.
Jose is 4-for-28 and Gimenez is 5-for-24 against the Twins. We need them to step up in these next six games against the Twins. The good news is we don’t face Bailey Ober, who pitched yesterday. Ober has started two games against the Guardians this year, shutting them out in 13 innings. The Twins won 1-0 and 2-0 in Ober’s two starts, so the G’s are 4-1 in games Ober did not start. Ober won't be starting this weekend in Cleveland, either. What a break for the Guardians.
The Guardians, with their backs to the wall, will go with three rookie starters while the Twins counter with three veterans. I’m sure that’s not how the Guardians envisioned this series back in March. They were probably hoping for Bieber, McKenzie, and Civale. On the bright side, the Twins only have two left-handed relievers, and one of them, Dallas Kuechel, pitched five innings yesterday in a 13-inning game. The other, Caleb Theilbar, pitched Saturday and Sunday.
Game 1 is a matchup between Xzavion Curry and Kenta Maeda, a 35-year-old right-hander who is 3-7 with a 4.22 ERA. However, in his last seven starts Maeda has an ERA of 3.03. He has not faced the Guardians this year, but current Guardian players are hitting .083 off him lifetime with one RBI in 36 AB’s. That being said, Maeda has a home ERA of 5.57 this year as opposed to 3.19 on the road. Hey, if we got four runs off Kukichi yesterday we should be able to get four off Maeda.
Curry had an ERA of 1.84 in July but it dropped to 5.03 in August as they stretch him out to become a startrer. He will have a lot of pressure on him to give the Guardians a chance to win the first game, which they pretty much have to do. Anything less than five wins out of six, which would pick up four games on the Twins, is unacceptable if the G’s want to challenge for the division.
I was hoping Bieber and McKenzie would be ready for this series, but it will be Curry, Williams, and Bibee to face Maeda, Pablo Lopez, and Sonny Gray. Lopez, who was acquired for Luis Arraez, is 9-6 with a 3.69 ERA. He’ll face Gavin Williams, who the Twins have not seen. Williams is 1-5, 3.52, having suffered from some poor run support.
Wednesday’s matinee will match Tanner Bibee with Sonny Gray, a 33-year-old right-hander. Gray is having a good year at 7-6, 3.06 ERA, but in two starts this year against the Guardians his ERA is 4.63. Bibee has a 2.17 ERA in his last 11 starts.
Christian Vasquez is 4-for-10 against the G’s while Michael A. Taylor is 5-for-13. Max Kepler is hitting only .167 but has 5 RBI’s against the Guardians. From Cleveland.com’s preview:
The Twins have hit 66 home runs since the All-Star break, tied with Seattle for second most in baseball. Ryan Jeffers is hitting .342 (27-for-79) with four doubles, six home runs, 19 RBI, 10 walks, a .441 on-base percentage, a .620 slugging percentage and a 1.061 OPS since early July.
Keeping Jeffers, Kepler, and Taylor in check will be huge. The Twins rely on pitching and power. They’re not a good road team but have been very good at home, so this series is key.
This should be a good series. All three games are winnable and the G’s have played well against the better teams this year, including the Twins. All three Twins’ starters are right-handed and they only have two lefty relievers; one or maybe both will not be available tonight. It’s now or never for the Guardians.
