The Minnesota Twins and San Diego Padres will continue a three-game interleague series on Saturday evening at Petco Park. Friday's series opener was a blowout as the Padres rolled to a 10-1 win to cash in as a -130 favorite. Minnesota still leads the AL Central at 52-47, while the Padres own an NL Wild Card spot at 56-45.
These teams haven't met since the 2017 season when Minnesota took three of four, and the Twins comfortably lead the all-time series 15-6.
It hasn't been a good week for the Twins, who saw their lead in the AL Central shrink to one game as they got hammered on Friday night in San Diego. Byron Buxton launched a homer in the fourth for Minnesota's only scoring of the night, as the Padres were already up 3-0 at that point and only piled on the rest of the game.
Rookie Joe Ryan had the worst start of his promising young career, allowing 10 runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out seven. Luis Arraez had another multi-hit game as his quest for the batting title continues.
The Twins are down a bit on the money line for the season while going 44-55 on the run line. Overs are 48-43-8 for the Twins, with each of their last six games going over the betting total.
Minnesota's offense is 10th-best in the Majors at 4.57 runs per game on a .742 team OPS that is inside the top five. The pitching staff could use some upgrades as it is below average with a 3.99 combined ERA including a mark of 3.92 from the bullpen.
Buxton is showing what he's capable of when fully healthy, posting an .835 OPS with 25 homers and 45 RBI. Arraez is the best contact hitter in baseball this season with a .336/.408/.437 line, five homers and 33 driven in.
Sonny Gray is set to make his 15th start of the season, looking to build on a win over the Detroit Tigers last Sunday when he allowed one run on just two hits and one walk over six innings, striking out seven. The 32-year-old is having a solid campaign in Minnesota after being acquired in the offseason, going 5-3 with a 3.52 ERA over 69.0 innings while also missing time with injury.
Catcher Ryan Jeffers (thumb contusion), outfielder Trevor Larnach (core muscle surgery) and top prospect Royce Lewis (knee surgery) are on the IL. Third baseman Gio Urshela is also o n the paternity list. The rotation is down Randy Dobnak (strained finger), Kenta Maeda (Tommy John surgery), Bailey Ober (strained groin) and Chris Paddack (Tommy John surgery). Minnesota's bullpen is also dealing with injuries as Jorge Alcala (elbow inflammation), Danny Coulombe (hip surgery), Jhon Romero (biceps tendinitis), Cody Stashak (biceps surgery) and Caleb Thielbar (strained hamstring) are out.