The Minnesota Twins wrap up a three game set with the Boston Red Sox Wednesday at home. The Twins are hot on the heels of the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central while the Red Sox sit in last place in the AL East. Red Sox ace Michael Wacha (9-1) gets the start for Boston while the Twins counter with Joe Ryan (10-6).
This is looking like a lost season for the Red Sox, one year after they made a deep playoff run. What happened? That will be dissected and analyzed after the season. As for now, they hope to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. After getting swept by Toronto, they bounced back by taking 2 out of 3 from Tampa Bay, but they lost the first game of this series with Minnesota. (The results of Tuesday night's game were not available at the time of publication.) But the Red Sox are now in last place in the AL East, 16 games behind the first place Yankees. More importantly, they are 8 games out of the third wildcard spot.
Red Sox ace Michael Wacha gets the start on Wednesday. The right hander is 9-1 on the season with an ERA of 2.53 in 16 starts. He has 69 strikeouts and 25 walks in 89 innings pitched. Wacha got a win in his last start, beating the Rays. He gave up 4 runs on 5 hits in 6 innings with 6 strikeouts and 1 wal k in the win. Wacha is 0-0 against the Twins this season, allowing 0 runs on 1 hit with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts in 5 innings. In his career against Minnesota, Wacha is 2-1 with an ERA of 4.43 and 22 strikeouts in 4 appearances. The Red Sox have a team ERA of 4.50, which ranks 25th in the league. The bullpen has an ERA of 4.53, which is 26th.