Following Tuesday night’s 6-2 loss to the Red Sox, the Twins are now losers of back-to-back. It’s slowly appearing to be another cold spell for the club, who just days ago looked hot with a stretch that had them winning five of six games.
The awful batting sticks out the most for the Twins in their last two, as they have only gone 12-for-63 on the plate in that span (.190). Adding to the concern is main hitters Miguel Sano and Brian Dozier, who are top two in almost every batting statistic in the team, only going 10-for-47 (.212) in the past week.
Though Joe Mauer (8-for-19, .421) and Jorge Planco (6-for-17, .353) are able to step up in place for Sano and Dozier’s shortcomings, it’ll obviously won’t be enough moving forward.
Adalberto Mejia will headline the defense. He’s just 2-3 with an ugly 4.93 ERA in 10 starts, but will be coming off a great performance, where he tossed for five scoreless innings.
The Red Sox are an opposite of the Twins in terms of trends. They are now slowly moving away from an underwhelming week courtesy of the two wins, keeping them on-pace to move past division leader and bitter rival New York Yankees in the standings.
Defense has been a key in the pair of victories. Combining the numbers, they have only allowed Minny to bat .190 and score just three runs in 18 innings. It’s been one of the Sox’s better defensive performances against playoff-caliber clubs.
Projected starter Rick Porcello, who’s having a down year, is hoping to ride along with the team’s momentum on defense. He’s only 4-9 with an almost unbelievable 5.00 ERA this season – quite far from everyone’s expectations following an award-winning campaign in 2016.
As for the offense, Boston’s talent-laden batting corps is rather quiet as of late. Mitch Moreland, an unheralded off-season pick-up, is the guy that’s tearing it up in the past week. He’s 5-for-11, with three runs, four RBIs, and three dingers in his last three. The team gave him a rest on Tuesday and is expected to be back for the next game.
The Sox have won four of their last five meetings with the Twins.
