Twins Face an AL Division Leader in Weekend Series
The Minnesota Twins had an excellent May, holding a 17-7 record. The team will have its hands full closing the month on the road against the AL West-leading Seattle Mariners. Both teams are in tight division races. The Twins are still neck and neck with Kansas City and Cleveland in the AL Central, while Seattle is trying to hold off the Houston Astros for the AL West lead.
The Twins aren’t the only ones who had a strong month. Bryan Woo, the Mariners’ announced pitcher for Friday night’s contest, has been excellent. In five starts, he’s yet to pitch under six innings and shut out his opponents in three of those starts. The Twins’ offense needs to bounce back quickly after being shut out by the Rays in their last game. Minnesota will counter Woo with Zebby Matthews on the mound Friday night. The Twins’ bullpen may be leaned on heavily. In Matthews's first two starts, he’s yet to find his way past the fourth inning. The 25-year-old did show some promise in his last appearance against Kansas City. He struck out nine batters in his four innings of work, a clear improvement over his first start.
Despite leading the AL West, Seattle hasn’t played its best baseball over the past month. Holding a 12-12 record in May, going into Thursday night’s series closer against the Nationals. Tough competition has contributed to the struggles, with the Mariners having a series against the Yankees, Padres, and Astros over that span. The main reason, though, is the hitting slump the team has been on. In April, the squad had four players hit over .300. In May, that number dropped to zero. Massive slumps as well, former Twin Jorge Polanco, hit .379 in April and only .145 in May. Similarly, J.P. Crawford dropped his average from .325 to .222 month over month.
As for the Twins, the team just needs to keep it close. In three of the last four Twins wins, the victory has come through ninth-inning heroics. Another thing Minnesota will look for is the continued success of Carlos Correa after coming off the injured list. In the six games since his return, he’s batting .350 with two home runs. Ty France has also continued to impress in his first campaign with the Twins, adding another six runs batted in over the last week to make his team-leading season total 30. Both teams, having little margin for error in their division races, will make for an exciting weekend of baseball. The series will open Friday, May 30th at 9:00 p.m. CST.
