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The Indians road trip continues with three games in Minnesota against the surprisingly resurgent Twins, who have won 7 of their last 10 games, all against strong opponents. In their last three series the Twins have gone 2-1 against Tampa, 2-1 against the White Sox, and 3-1 against Houston. This is after trading Cruz, Berrios, and Happ at the deadline and with Byron Buxton and Taylor Rogers out with injuries. Crazy.
The Twins are 28-32 at home while the Tribe is an identical 28-32 on the road. The Twins hold a 5-4 season advantage but these teams have not played in nearly two months. They still have 10 games to play.
The Twins are 6th in the A.L. in runs per game but their top hitters this year, Cruz and Buxton, are gone or injured. The top holdovers are SS Jorge Polanco (.267/.814), 2B Luis Arraez (.316/.791), and 3B Josh Donaldson (.246/.816). C Mitch Garver has an OPS of .860 and has really beat up on Tribe pitching to the tune of 1.269.
Both these teams are in the player evaluation for next season business right now.
Tonight Cal Quantrill faces RHP Griffin Jax, 3-1, 5.45. The 26-year-old rookie has made 9 appearances and 5 starts. As a starter opposing batters are hitting .204/.671 against him. The first three times through the order they’re hitting .181, .273, and .313 so as usual the key is to get runners on base in the first three innings and get to the second and third time through as early as possible.
Jax has been awesome against left-handed hitters who are 7-for-53 against him (.132) while righties have been way more successful (.289/.927). I still expect Hale to stack the lineup with lefites because that’s what managers do.
For the season Jax has induced 76 fly balls against only 39 ground balls so he’s an extreme fly ball pitcher. His Achilles heel has been home runs, having allowed 10 in 38 innings. He kind of reminds me of Eli Morgan - some of the peripheral numbers are good but the long ball is the problem.
Jax is not overpowering with 32 K’s in 38 innings but has limited opponents to a .204 average as a starter so he apparently induces a lot of weak contact. Don’t be fooled by the 5.45 ERA; in the last 30 days his ERA is 2.66 and batters hit .153 against him. This kid is on a roll.
So is Quantrill, who has allowed 5 earned runs in his last 6 starts covering 36 innings for a 1.25 ERA. He may be the hottest starter in baseball right now. We might not see too many runs tonight from either team.
The Twins are 28-32 at home while the Tribe is an identical 28-32 on the road. The Twins hold a 5-4 season advantage but these teams have not played in nearly two months. They still have 10 games to play.
The Twins are 6th in the A.L. in runs per game but their top hitters this year, Cruz and Buxton, are gone or injured. The top holdovers are SS Jorge Polanco (.267/.814), 2B Luis Arraez (.316/.791), and 3B Josh Donaldson (.246/.816). C Mitch Garver has an OPS of .860 and has really beat up on Tribe pitching to the tune of 1.269.
Both these teams are in the player evaluation for next season business right now.
Tonight Cal Quantrill faces RHP Griffin Jax, 3-1, 5.45. The 26-year-old rookie has made 9 appearances and 5 starts. As a starter opposing batters are hitting .204/.671 against him. The first three times through the order they’re hitting .181, .273, and .313 so as usual the key is to get runners on base in the first three innings and get to the second and third time through as early as possible.
Jax has been awesome against left-handed hitters who are 7-for-53 against him (.132) while righties have been way more successful (.289/.927). I still expect Hale to stack the lineup with lefites because that’s what managers do.
For the season Jax has induced 76 fly balls against only 39 ground balls so he’s an extreme fly ball pitcher. His Achilles heel has been home runs, having allowed 10 in 38 innings. He kind of reminds me of Eli Morgan - some of the peripheral numbers are good but the long ball is the problem.
Jax is not overpowering with 32 K’s in 38 innings but has limited opponents to a .204 average as a starter so he apparently induces a lot of weak contact. Don’t be fooled by the 5.45 ERA; in the last 30 days his ERA is 2.66 and batters hit .153 against him. This kid is on a roll.
So is Quantrill, who has allowed 5 earned runs in his last 6 starts covering 36 innings for a 1.25 ERA. He may be the hottest starter in baseball right now. We might not see too many runs tonight from either team.
