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The #MNTwins started a 10-game road trip with 3 games in Chicago tonight to face the Chicago White Sox.

The Minnesota Twins have the 3rd best record on the road this season at 40-22 and they’d like to improve on that with a great road trip.

They begin it with RHP Michael Pineda on the mound pitching against RHP Lucas Giolito, who shut them out last time they faced him. He allowed only 3 hits and 0 walks while striking out 12 in a 4-0 win at Target Field last Wednesday. 

You know the Twins want to get to him early & often after that.

They got a walk and a single in the top of the 1st but he got out of the jam with a popout & a strikeout. Pineda gave up a walk in the bottom of the first but struck out the other 3 batters.

Marwin Gonzalez led off the top of the 2nd with his 15th HR of the season, a 396-foot blast to right field that was followed 2 batters later (Cron & Cave struck out) with Jonathan Schoop’s 19th HR of the season.

It was still a pitcher’s duel with double-plays helping each pitcher erase baserunners a few times. Tim Anderson hit a leadoff HR (14) to right center field to cut the lead in half but that’s all Pineda and the Twins would give up tonight.

Pineda pitched just 5 innings but he only allowed 4 hits, the one run and 1 walk while striking out 8 and earning his 10th win of the season. The Twins bullpen (#MNBP) did the rest with RHPs Sam Dyson, Tyler Duffey & Sergio Romo pitching the 6th, 7th & 8th inning allowing just 2 hits and no walks while striking out 4 and LHP Tayler Rogers pitching a perfect 9th inning with 1 strikeout and his 21st Save of the season.

The Twins added on an insurance run in the top of the 8th on an Eddie Rosario soft liner to center field that scored Jorge Polanco from 2nd base.

Also, late in the game, Max Kepler pinch-hit for Marwin Gonzalez and it was reported that Marwin left the game due to an abdominal issue so hopefully he’s alright. We’ll send an update later if we hear/see anything.

So…not a ton of excitement but it’s nice to see the Twins win close low-scoring games because it’s something they’ll likely have to do more of as it comes closer to the end of the season and in the postseason.

In some pretty cool Twins-related news or, at least, related-twins news, Twins RHP Taylor Rogers twin-brother Tyler Rogers got The Call from the San Francisco Giants to come to The Show! They asked Taylor about it after the game and, of course, he was Tyler’s first call after getting the news so a HUGE Day for the Rogers’ family today!

CONGRATS, Tyler! Sling it!!!

Same teams, same time tomorrow night when RHP Jake Odorizzi (13-6, 3.57 ERA) pitches against White Sox LHP Ross Detwiler (2-3, 5.31 ERA) at 7:10pm on Fox Sports North.

We’ll be tuning in late tomorrow night because of one of those job thingies interrupting our baseball viewing & writing fun! Doesn’t The Man Like Baseball? Come on, now!!!

The #MNTwins wanted to win the series against the @Tigers for multiple reasons. One, to win the series against the Tigers. Two, to go .500 on this 6-game homestand so they can head out on a 10-game road trip with some momentum and…3, to start a winning streak.

The @Twins had LHP Martin Perez on the mound and they had to face LHP Matthew Boyd. That means Mitch Garver is in the lineup because he’s crushed lefties all season long.

Perez began the game with a 1-2-3 inning including 2 swinging strikeouts to end the inning. Then Mitch Garver led off the game with a walk but Matthew Boyd then got a flyout and 2 swinging strikeouts of his own to end the 1st inning.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Jonathan Schoop led off the inning with a walk, only his 16th walk of the season. That brought Mitch Garver back up to the plate and he’s struggled for most of the month of August, hitting a triple slash of .192/.250/.442 (Average/On-Base %/Slugging %) going 10-for-52 with 4 doubles, 3 HRs, 8 RBIs & 10 runs scored with 4 walks & 12 strikeouts so it was nice to see him hit his 12th double of the season to score Schoop and put the Twins in a 1-0 lead. Jorge Polanco then grounded out to 2nd & Garver advanced to 3rd so Nelson Cruz could hit an RBI-groundout to 3rd and score Garver to put the Twins up 2-0.

Perez had a perfect 1-2-3 4th inning including 2 more strikeouts (5) as he set down 5 straight Tigers. In the bottom of the 4th, Miguel Sano led off the inning with his 17th double of the season then Max Kepler was hit by a pitch and that brought C.J. Cron up to the plate and he’s struggled since coming off the Injured List on August 3rd and getting him going will be a big help to this team so seeing him hit his 21st HR of the season was nice. It was a 3-run shot to center field that put the Twins up 5-0.

The Tigers responded with back-to-back doubles from Jody Mercer & John Hicks to lead off the top of the 5th to score their first run and then scored their 2nd run later on an RBI-single from Harold Castro.

Perez threw a perfect 6th to end his day with a quality start of allowing under 3 runs (2) and pitch 6 or more innings. He allowed 5 hits & 1 walk while striking out 5.

In the bottom of the 6th, C.J. Cron earned a 1-out walk then Jonathan Schoop hit a 2-out, 2-run HR to left field. It was his 18th HR of the season and he has also struggled as the season has gone on, losing his starting spot to the hot-hitting Luis Arraez but his bat can be a nice weapon off the bench and he brings some good defense, too, so he’s someone they might need down the stretch. 7-2 Twins.

RHP Cody Stashak pitched the 7th & 8th innings for the Twins allowing just 1 hit while striking out 1 then LHP Lewis Thorpe pitched the 9th. He struck out the first batter then allowed a single, a double and a weakly hit single and the Tigers closed the deficit to 7-4 but Thorpe got a flyout and a groundout to end the game.

The Indians lost 9-8 in extra innings after tying the game in the 9th so that increases the American League Central lead to 3.5 games so, with 32 games left this season, the Twins clinch number is 29. That’s 29 Twins wins or Indians losses to clinch the division and a playoff spot.

The Twins have the day off on Monday before they start a 10-game road trip beginning with a 3-game series in Chicago vs the White Sox. They will then travel to Detroit for 4 games and end the trip with 3 games in Boston.

The #MNTwins are struggling to get their game going against their division foes lately. Is it because they slumping or because their opponents see the first-place Minnesota Twins and want to play spoiler and bring their best game to them? It’s probably a little of both.

The Twins are struggling with their pitching & their defense. Kyle Gibson took the mound last night to try to remedy the pitching part of their struggles as he opposed Detroit Tigers RHP Edwin Jackson in Game 2 of this 3-game series.

Gibby gave up a leadoff single then got a strikeout and double-play in the 1st inning then Max Kepler led off the bottom of the 1st with his 35th HR of the season and his 6th leadoff HR. 1-0 Twins.

In the 2nd, it was 2 singles with a strikeout in between them then a double play then in the 3rd, Dawel Lugo homered to left-center field to tie the game and he golfed it out as it was a good pitch that he just made good contact on. A hit by pitch was followed by a fielding error from Luis Arraez, another single, a strikeout and a Ronny Rodriguez sacrifice fly to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

The 4th went single, strikeout, single strikeout, 2-run single (Victor Reyes) and a groundout. 4-1 Tigers.

The 5th inning began with a leadoff double from Miguel Cabrera but he wouldn’t get further than 3rd base as Gibby got a groundout, struck out his 7th Tiger of the day then he threw a wild pitch but got a groundout to end the inning with no damage.

The Twins finally responded to being down 4-1 with a leadoff double by Jake Cave (8) then got a 1-out (Cron struck out) RBI-double (29) from Max Kepler. 4-2. Back-to-back singles from Jorge Polanco & Nelson Cruz scored Kepler to make it a 1-run game and Luis Arraez hit a line drive to center field that was so close to being a triple but it was caught by Tigers CF Harold Castro but….up to the plate came Miguel Sano and the Twins were looking for a weather change to get this game going their way and Miguel didn’t wait to make it happen. On the first pitch, Edwin Jackson hung a slider and it was Sano-ing at Target Field as Miguel’s 26th HR of the season changed a 4-3 deficit to a 6-4 lead with One Swing of the Bat! 

BOOMBA!!!

Tigers SS Willi Castro* doubled to lead off the top of the 6th. Gibby struck out Lugo and was then removed from the game to be replaced by RHP Sam Dyson. He got a popout for the 2nd out then Victor Reyes hit an RBI-single to make it a 1-run ballgame. Dyson struck out Harold Castro* to end the inning.

*The Tigers had 2 Castros in their lineup. The Twins had 1 on their bench. Three Castros at a Ballgame. Hey, that could be the beginning of a joke…Three Castros go to a ballgame…

Mitch Garver led off the bottom of the 6th with a single and Jake Cave, who’s been swinging a hot bat, hit his 5th HR of the season to center field and it was no longer a 1-run game. BOOM!!! 8-5 Twins!

Dyson pitched the 7th and worked around a leadoff walk by going popout, flyout, groundout. RHP Sergio Romo came in to pitch the 8th but allowed a single and a walk before getting the 1st out on a strikeout of Jake Rogers and Rocco decided it was time for Mr. Rogers or, as it says on the back of his jersey for Players Weekend, Lefty Piece to come into the game.

Rogers got a popout then a groundout to end the 8th then struck out the side in the 9th for his 20th save of the season.

The Indians beat the Royals 4-2 so the American League Central lead is still at 2.5 games. The Indians lost 3B Jose Ramirez to a fractured hamate bone that will likely end his season. That’s too bad. He was back to MVP form and was helping the Indians in a big playoff push. Will they be able to keep it up?

It will be LHP Martin Perez on the mound today at 12:10pm on Fox Sports North pitching against Tigers LHP Matthew Boyd.

Hey, how ‘bout we start a winning streak, boys?

The #MNTwins will try to get back in the win column tonight with RHP Michael Pineda (8-5, 4.20 ERA, 1.20 WHIP) on the mound against @WhiteSox RHP Reynaldo Lopez (7-10, 5.29 ERA, 1.50 WHIP).

The first 2 innings contained 2 hits, both from the White Sox. The 3rd inning had 3 hits from the White Sox and 2 hits from the Twins with each team having a double and a home run among their hits. The White Sox also had a single. Everyone scored so it was 3-2 White Sox. The single came from Yolmer Sanchez followed by an RBI-double from Tim Anderson, with a great diving catch of a Leury Garcia line drive from Jake Cave in between those hits. Then Jose Abreu hit his 28th HR of the season & his 2nd in the series to make it 3-0 Sox.

The Twins responded right away, like they always seem to do, when Mitch Garver hit his 11th double of the season to lead off the bottom of the 3rd inning and then scored when Max Kepler hit his 34th HR of the season to get the Twins within 1 at 3-2.

Then, in the bottom of the 4th, Nelson Cruz continued his BoomStick ways by hitting his 33rd HR of the season just over the left field fence to tie the game at 3!

Target Field then saw it’s new mascot appear again in the bottom of the 5th. The Twins Squirrel appeared for the first time in last night’s game and on the very next pitch, Nelson Cruz singled in Jorge Polanco. Tonight, the squirrel reappeared and Jorge Polanco was at the plate. He was hit by a pitch to keep the inning alive and load the bases for guess who? NELSON CRUZ and he doubled off the right field wall to score 2 and break the 3-3 tie! RALLY SQUIRREL!!! Then, on the very next pitch, Eddie Rosario singled to bring in Polanco and Cruz and in 2 pitches, the score went from 3-3 to 7-3! BOOM!

The White Sox got a run back in the top of the 6th on a Tim Anderson HR (13), a solo shot to left field.

Michael Pineda ended up pitching 7 innings and he allowed just the runs. Maybe not a great start but a decent start.

RHP Tyler Duffey took over in the 8th, got a lineout and a strikeout before Rocco summoned RHP Sergio Romo to face Tim Anderson and Sergio struck him out on 3 consecutive sliders to end the top of the 8th.

Then, the Twins offense had themselves a very offensive 8th inning.:
Double (Cruz), Groundout (Rosario)-1 Out, RBI-Double (Sano), Single (Arraez), Strikeout (Garver)-2 Outs  & Stolen Base (Arraez), Intentional Walk (Marwin) to load the bases and get to C.J. Cron, 3-Run Double (Cron), Mound Visit & Pitching Change to former Twins LHP Hector Santiago, RBI-Double (Kepler), 2-R Home Run (Polanco), Double (Cruz-2nd of the inning, 3rd of the night), RBI-Single (Rosario) & Strikeout (Sano) to end the inning. They doubled their run total from 7 to 14.

All-in-All…
The Bottom of the 8th inning:
12 Batters, well 9 batters with 3 of them batting twice
8 Hits
8 RBIs
7 Runs
5 Doubles, 2 from Nelson Cruz
2 Singles
2 Pitchers
1 Home Run, Jorge Polanco (19)
1 Walk, Intentional (Marwin Gonzalez)
1 Stolen Base (Luis Arraez (2))

That was it. RHP Trevor May finished the game with a perfect 9th and the rubber game is tomorrow afternoon at 12:10pm with Twins RHP Jake Odorizzi (13-5, 3.50 ERA, 1.22 WHIP) against White Sox RHP Lucas Giolito (13-6, 3.41 ERA, 1.14 WHIP). The Twins scored 7 runs (4 HRs) on Giolito in 5 innings back on July 25th so it will be interesting to see if they can do it again!