The Minnesota Twins head to Texas for a critical three-game series with the Houston Astros starting on Tuesday. The Twins are battling it out with the Guardians and White Sox for first-place in the AL Central Division while the Astros sit atop the AL West Division with the best record in the American League. On the mound in the series opener will be veteran right-hander Aaron Sanchez (3-3, 7.68) of the Twins taking on Astros ace Justin Verlander (15-3, 1.95). First pitch is scheduled for 8:10pm EST.
The Minnesota Twins can't seem to put together a solid run of baseball since relinquishing their season-long lead in the AL Central Division. After winning four-straight games, the Twins have now lost three-straight games and find themselves two games behind the Guardians in the division standings. The Twins looked to be in good shape after defeating the lowly Texas Rangers in game one of their four-game set in Minnesota over the weekend. Instead, the Rangers proceeded to take each of the next three games including a 2-1 victory on Monday night. The Twins wasted a solid performance from starter Sonny Gray who went six innings and allowed five hits and just two runs in the loss. The loss was made more disheartening with the loss of all-star outfielder Byron Buxton. Buxton left the game with hip tightness in the 7th inning and is listed as day-to-day.
The trip le play in baseball:
In a league of its own pic.twitter.com/xnKbQpIkQb— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 23, 2022
The Twins have hit just .239 over their last ten games and that includes a 9-0 win over the Royals during the home stand. Against Texas, the Twins scored just two runs per game so any extended loss of Buxton will be detrimental to the struggling Twins offense. On the mound in the series opener will be Aaron Sanchez. Sanchez was acquired in a deadline deal with the Nationals in order to give the Twins more depth in the rotation. He has made one start with the Twins thus far, against Detroit, and went five innings, allowing four hits and two runs in a solid outing. In his last five starts overall, Sanchez is 2-1 but with an ERA of 7.15 allowing 33 hits in 22.2 innings of work.