San Francisco Giants (61-62) vs. Minnesota Twins (62-60)
The struggling Minnesota Twins welcome the San Francisco Giants to town on Friday to begin a three-game series. Minnesota played Houston on Thursday night, but this preview was written prior to the conclusion of that contest. However, entering that game, the Twins had lost five straight contests, dropping them to 3.5 games behind Cleveland in the AL Central and 4.5 games out in the AL wild-card chase.
San Francisco was off on Thursday, but they split a two-game series with the Detroit Tigers during the week and are 2-4 in their last six games. That has the Giants 5.5 games out of the NL wildcard chase with just 39 games left to play.
This is the first meeting between these clubs since 2017 when Minnesota took two of three in San Francisco. The line had not been set for this contest at the time this preview was written.
The San Francisco Giants split a two-game set with Detroit during the week, winning the first contest 3-1 before falling on Wednesday, 6-1. This was a critical section of games for San Francisco that saw them playing 12 games against teams with losing records, but all they could produce was a 7-5 record. Coupled with dropping two of three to San Diego earlier in the month, this team finds their playoff chances are dwindling quickly.
?? got 'em
(#SFGiants x @NationalPro) pic.twitter.com/kTEmLyLq4Z
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) August 24, 2022
The Giants have been a solid offensive team this season, averaging 4.56 runs per game thanks in large part to their power, as the Giants are 11th overall with 142 home runs. They have hit 24 home runs in 21 games in August but had produced only 80 runs, an average of 3.81 per game. The numbers have been very good on the road, however, as they are averaging 4.52 runs per contest and have hit 71 home runs in 60 games.
San Francisco starts left-hander Alex Wood, who is 8-10 with a 4.54 ERA in 24 starts. Wood was wracked by Colorado in his last start, giving up seven runs in 4.2 innings. He had given up six runs in 5.1 innings in his first start of the month, and has now allowed 16 runs in 22.1 innings in August. This came after he posted a 1.65 ERA in July.