(Photo credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports)
The Minnesota Twins face a good problem as they prepare for Wednesday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals in Minneapolis.
The Twins keep winning hard-fought games. And they keep turning to their hard-throwing closer to finish the job.
Jhoan Duran has collected a save in five of the past six games for the Twins, including Tuesday’s 4-2 victory over the Royals. Duran has eight saves in 14 appearances this season and likely will need to rest his right arm as the Royals and Twins meet for the third time in a four-game series.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli praised his team after its latest win. Minnesota has won six of its past seven games and can secure its third series win in a row if it defeats the Royals on Wednesday.
“I thought there were a ton of plays, situations, things that we did out in the field that were at a high level (Wednesday),” Baldelli said. “I was really pleased with what we did out there.
“You can break it down the way we normally do and talk offense, defense, baserunning as a whole. I thought it was a strong day for us.”
Meanwhile, the Royals have dropped three straight games after winning the previous eight in a row.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro said his players were not stressing about the losing skid. Kansas City responded to its first three-game losing streak of the season by winning the next four games in a row, and it responded to its second three-game losing streak by winning the next three straight.
“(It’s about) making each day its own day,” Quatraro said. “These guys don’t care about whether we’ve lost two or three. They’re going to come back ready to play tomorrow.”
The Royals might be without Vinnie Pasquantino, who left Tuesday’s game because of a lower-leg bruise. The team said X-rays were negative and the injury was not expected to result in a long-term absence for Pasquantino.
“He just has a contusion to the nerve on the side of his leg,” Quatraro said. “He’s going to be fine — day-to-day — but just have to wait for it to feel a little bit better.”
Kansas City will turn to right-hander Seth Lugo (8-1, 1.74 ERA), who is set to make his 12th start of the season. He has earned a victory in each of his past three outings, and over the course of his past six starts, he is 5-0 with a 1.52 ERA.
Lugo has recorded a 1.80 ERA without a decision in five career games (three starts) against the Twins. That includes a start this season in which he scattered two hits over six scoreless innings in a 5-1 loss over the opening weekend of the season.
The Twins will counter with right-hander Bailey Ober (5-2, 4.33), who will make his 11th start this season. The 6-foot-9, 260-pound hurler is looking for back-to-back wins after getting the 3-2 victory against the Texas Rangers on Friday, when he allowed two runs on four hits in five innings.
Ober has faced the Royals eight times in his career. He is 0-3 with a 7.24 ERA in those contests, including a miserable debut this season in which he gave up eight runs on nine hits in 1 1/3 innings at Kansas City.
–Field Level Media
