The Minnesota Twins (19-14, 1st AL Central) visit Progressive Field on Sunday to play the third and final game of a three-game series against American League Central rival the Cleveland Guardians (14-18, 3rd AL Central). Minnesota won its second straight when defeating Cleveland 2-0 on Friday in the series opener. The Twins lead the AL Central by four games over Detroit. Cleveland lost its third straight when losing to Minnesota Friday and has lost five of the last six. Minnesota will play without five pitchers plus position players Gilberto Celestino, Kyle Farmer and Royce Lewis. Cleveland has three pitchers on its injury list.
Minnesota is first in the American League Central thanks in a big part to its pitching staff. The Twins have the third-best ERA at 3.33 and the second-best WHIP at 1.13. Minnesota's starting rotation has 15 Quality Starts which is tied for 4th in baseball and its pitching staff is holding opponents to a batting average of .220 which is the third lowest in baseball. Pablo Lopez is leading Minnesota in strikeouts with 54 and Sonny Gray is the leader ERA for starters with 0.77. Joe Ryan gets the nod on the mound Sunday for Minnesota. This season the right-hander 5-0 with an ERA of 2.37 and 43 strikeouts.
Minnesota must improve at the plate as the Twins have a .225 team batting average which is only 28th. Minnesota is 25th in on-base percentage at .303 and improves to 16th in slugging percentage at .396. The Twins have scored 149 runs which is 12th. Byron Buxton has been Minnesota's most productive hitter with team highs in doubles at 7, home runs with eight and RBI with 19. Trevor Larnach is tied for first in RBI with 19 and Joey Gallo is second in home runs with seven. Minnesota has hit 48 doubles, 6 triples and 43 home runs in 33 games.