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Royals series preview: Minnesota Twins

By Josh Duggan

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Chicago White Sox v Minnesota Twins Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

The Royals and Twins have played each other 176 times this season and the Twins have won 184 of those games. Whatever their head-to-head record, they’ve played way too many games against each other, leaving the world fatigued.

Here are the game times and pitching matchups for the series:

  • Friday, June 30, 7:15 PM CDT - Ervin Santana vs. Jason Vargas (L)
  • Saturday, July 1, 1:15 PM CDT - José Berríos vs. Jason Hammel
  • Saturday, July 1, 7:35 PM CDT - Who Knows? vs. Maybe a guy like Skoglund?
  • Sunday, July 2, 1:15 PM CDT - Hector Santiago (L) vs. Matt Strahm (L)

Update: The Royals announced today that Luke Farrell will start the Saturday night game of the doubleheader, with Travis Wood the likely Sunday starter.

Twins at Royals pitching matchups

Pitcher G IP K K% BB BB% ERA FIP xFIP SIERA fWAR rWAR
Pitcher G IP K K% BB BB% ERA FIP xFIP SIERA fWAR rWAR
Ervin Santana 16 106.0 81 19.1 36 8.5 2.80 4.58 4.82 4.74 1.2 3.4
Jason Vargas (L) 15 94.1 70 18.5 20 5.3 2.29 3.46 4.65 4.52 2.2 4.0
José Berríos 9 60.1 60 25.2 17 7.1 2.98 3.37 4.13 3.86 1.4 1.9
Jason Hammel 15 83.1 65 17.4 27 7.2 4.75 4.48 5.32 4.90 1.0 0.9
TBD - - - - - - - - - - - -
TBD - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hector Santiago 14 67.0 49 16.6 30 10.2 5.37 6.11 6.06 5.52 -0.3 0.3
Matt Strahm (L) 23 33.2 37 25.2 20 13.6 5.61 5.22 4.87 4.49 -0.1 -0.2

That double-header is really gumming up the works. It looks like the first game should be José Berríos and Jason Hammel, but that could change. The 26th man figures to be the one getting the start for the Royals. Eric Skoglund is due up in Omaha’s rotation on Saturday, and he has been in the minors the requisite ten days to make him eligible for recall. Santana is still pitching well. Santiago is still Hector Santiago.

Twins position players

Player Pos PA HR R RBI SB AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+ fWAR rWAR
Player Pos PA HR R RBI SB AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+ fWAR rWAR
Miguel Sanó 3B 293 18 46 53 0 .274 .375 .548 .384 140 2.3 1.7
Brian Dozier 2B 333 13 36 35 10 .246 .333 .433 .327 101 1.1 0.9
Max Kepler (L) RF 283 9 36 32 3 .249 .314 .420 .315 93 1.0 1.4
Joe Mauer (L) 1B 275 4 33 29 1 .286 .356 .403 .331 104 0.9 1.0
Robbie Grossman (S) DH/OF 240 6 35 22 2 .250 .385 .388 .346 114 0.7 0.8
Eduardo Escobar (S) IF 188 8 21 26 1 .276 .324 .460 .330 103 0.7 0.4
Chris Gimenez C 106 5 12 9 1 .213 .340 .427 .334 106 0.7 0.2
Jason Castro (L) C 211 6 19 26 0 .222 .318 .378 .306 87 0.6 1.2
Eddie Rosario (L) LF 253 10 33 24 2 .281 .320 .468 .334 106 0.5 0.3
Jorge Polanco (S) SS 245 3 25 24 3 .247 .295 .350 .278 68 0.3 0.6
Byron Buxton CF 245 4 22 14 13 .199 .272 .290 .251 50 0.2 1.3
Kennys Vargas (S) 1B/DH 151 7 27 27 0 .236 .265 .424 .290 76 -0.4 0.0

The Twins position players rank 14th in fWAR, thanks in part to positive defensive contributions. Their .251/.326/.415 triple-slash runs their wOBA to .319 and their wRC+ to 95. They’re middle-of-the-road, but they’ve been able to stay in a position jockeying back and forth with the Cleveland team.

Poll

How will the Royals fare against the Twins?

This poll is closed

  • 12%
    Royals sweep
    (28 votes)
  • 44%
    Royals take three of four
    (97 votes)
  • 33%
    Split
    (73 votes)
  • 9%
    Twins take three of four
    (21 votes)
  • 0%
    Twins sweep
    (1 vote)
220 votes total Vote Now

All stats courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball Reference through action on Wednesday, June 28.

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