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Minnesota Twins series preview: Why bother?

By Josh Duggan
MLB: Minnesota Twins at Houston Astros Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

If a series happens in the Northwoods and no one sees it, did it happen? If you add the death of a legend and a contentious Supreme Court confirmation to the mix, is it even less likely that the series happened?

Game times and pitching matchups are as follows:

  • Friday, September 7 — 7:10 PM CDT — Heath Fillmyer versus Stephen Gonsalves
  • Saturday, September 8 — 6:10 PM CDT — Jorge López versus José Berríos
  • Sunday, September 9 — 1:10 PM CDT — Ian Kennedy versus Gabriel Moya

Royals at Twins 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
Game 1
Heath Fillmyer 13 58.1 36 14.6 26 10.6 4.01 5.14 4.86 5.14 0.0 0.6
Stephen Gonsalves (L) 3 10.0 5 8.6 10 17.2 9.90 8.05 7.61 7.29 -0.2 -0.6
Game 2
Jorge López 14 40.1 33 18.9 21 12.0 4.24 4.12 4.59 4.80 0.2 0.2
José Berríos 28 167.2 171 24.6 49 7.1 3.92 4.05 3.92 3.80 2.6 3.3
Game 3
Ian Kennedy 18 94.2 87 20.9 34 8.2 5.13 4.89 4.65 4.52 0.5 0.1
Gabriel Moya (L) 25 27.2 27 22.7 9 7.6 5.20 4.53 4.45 3.84 0.1 -0.3

Despite having appeared at the back end of both the Baseball America and MLB top 100 prospect lists for each of the past two seasons, Stephen Gonsalves has had a rough go of it in his first three starts. There’s been little to like about his performance so far. In the third game of the series, Gabriel Moya will play the part of the opener. These two games are total toss-ups. The game José Berríos gets to start will be no walk in the park for the Royals. If you haven’t been paying attention, Berríos is very good and flashes complete dominance at times.

Minnesota Twins position players

Name Pos PA HR R RBI SB AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+ fWAR rWAR
Name Pos PA HR R RBI SB AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+ fWAR rWAR
Eddie Rosario (L) LF 560 22 83 74 8 .292 .329 .484 .344 116 3.8 3.7
Max Kepler (L) CF 529 18 67 47 3 .226 .318 .416 .318 98 2.1 2.5
Mitch Garver C 313 7 35 36 0 .263 .333 .413 .323 101 1.1 1.0
Jorge Polanco (S) SS 232 4 25 29 4 .273 .332 .411 .323 101 0.9 1.0
Jake Cave (L) RF 218 10 37 30 1 .261 .310 .487 .335 109 0.8 1.4
Joe Mauer (L) 1B 454 5 49 39 0 .276 .347 .374 .316 97 0.7 0.9
Tyler Austin DH/1B 210 15 24 34 1 .230 .290 .503 .335 110 0.4 0.6
Ehire Adrianza (S) IF 298 6 33 27 4 .244 .299 .373 .291 79 0.1 -0.2
Logan Forsythe 2B 338 2 29 23 3 .241 .317 .310 .281 76 0.1 0.2
Willians Astudillo C/IF 34 2 3 5 0 .273 .294 .515 .342 114 0.0 0.2
Miguel Sanó 3B 295 13 32 41 0 .202 .285 .405 .298 84 0.0 -0.4
Gregorio Petit IF 31 0 4 2 1 .296 .387 .296 .316 96 0.0 0.2
Chris Gimenez C 39 1 2 3 1 .147 .231 .235 .213 27 -0.2 -0.2
Robbie Grossman (S) DH/OF 367 4 33 38 0 .261 .345 .368 .316 96 -0.2 0.5
Johnny Field OF 205 6 23 15 4 .192 .230 .332 .244 52 -0.4 -0.8

The Twins have shut down Byron Buxton, who was finally playing well in AAA after fighting injuries all season. That he’s 13 days shy of a full service year surely has nothing to do with this. But really, in a terrifying world in which Burt Reynolds is no longer with us, does anything matter? Honestly, wouldn’t you just be better off watching Sharky’s Machine on a loop this weekend?

Poll

How will the Royals fare in Minnesota?

This poll is closed

  • 12%
    Royals sweep
    (20 votes)
  • 37%
    Royals take two of three
    (58 votes)
  • 36%
    Twins take two of three
    (56 votes)
  • 12%
    Twins sweep
    (20 votes)
154 votes total Vote Now

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