The Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins wrap up their three-game series on Wednesday night. Each team has come away with a victory so far, including Minnesota’s 17-inning win on Tuesday night, so the finale will be the rubber match of the series.
Getting Hot
The Red Sox have been hot lately, putting together a solid winning streak. The Sox came into the season with high expectations after winning the World Series last year. Despite coming up short so far, they seem to be getting everything on track. Boston is currently 6.5 games back in the AL East behind the first-place Yankees.
Eduardo Rodriguez will get the start for Boston in the third game of this road series. The 26-year-old southpaw is 7-4 this season with a 4.67 ERA and 84 strikeouts.
Rodriguez gave up just one run in seven innings against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night. This upcoming outing gives him a chance to bring consistency to his up-and-down season.
Boston’s recent win streak has been helped by their 31-year-old leftfielder J.D. Martinez. In his last five games, Martinez has homered four times and has six RBI. Martinez now has a .301 batting average, a team-leading 16 home runs and 40 RBI on the season.
Out In Front
Minnesota has had a great start to its season and currently sits on top of the AL Central, leading the Indians by 10 games. They are 24-12 at home this year where they will be looking to finish their series off against Boston with a win.
Getting the start on the mound for the Twins will be right-handed pitcher Kyle Gibson. After picking up the win in his last outing, giving up only two hits in eight scoreless innings, Gibson is now 7-3 with a 3.70 ERA and 77 strikeouts.
In the month of June, Gibson has given up five earned runs in three games, but all five came against Detroit in his only loss of the month. Gibson got wins over both Tampa Bay and Kansas City by delivering shutouts in both.
The Twins are led on offense by the AL batting average leader Jorge Polanco. The Twins shortstop has a .332 BA with 10 home runs and 37 RBI so far this season. Eddie Rosario leads the Twins with 52 RBI and 19 home runs. The Twins have had a fantastic season so far behind these two and look to continue that trend through the remainder of the season.
What to expect
With the Twins’ great start to the year, it is hard to bet against them in almost any matchup. The key for both teams in this game will be how they bounce back from such a late game the night before after going to extra innings.
Boston has all the talent it needs to get a win over the Twins as they have already, but given Kyle Gibson’s solid play lately, I like the Twins to shut down the Sox and take the win to finish the series.