The Cleveland Guardians have their sights set on climbing into first place in the American League Central.
The Minnesota Twins would love to derail the Guardians and creep closer to stealing Cleveland’s current third-place spot in the wild-card race.
Something has to give this weekend when Cleveland (74-73) squares off against Minnesota (69-77) to open a three-game series Friday night in Minneapolis.
Cleveland enters the series two games back of the division-leading Chicago White Sox and in possession of the final wild-card spot. The Twins are 4 1/2 games behind the Guardians and will try to carve into the deficit as their desperation increases.
“I think the losses sting a little bit more now because we know it’s crunch time, but at the end of the day, you just have to come back and keep fighting,” Twins designated hitter Josh Bell said. “That’s the mentality. Come back, continue to get to work. Continue to do the best we can to put ourselves in position to get hot.
“There’s still time for us to put a streak together and go to the postseason. But yeah, it’s go-time. It really is.”
The Guardians will open the series with rookie left-hander Parker Messick (11-9, 2.53 ERA), who is set to make his 29th start this season. Messick is coming off a strong start after striking out a career-high 12 batters in six innings but taking the 6-0 setback to the visiting Detroit Tigers on Saturday.
Messick has pitched well against the Twins in three career meetings over parts of two seasons. He is 1-0 with a 2.16 ERA, and he has walked two and struck out 22 in 16 2/3 innings.
The Twins will counter with right-hander Taj Bradley (11-6, 3.95), who will aim for his third victory in a row. Bradley topped the Tigers on Aug. 31, and he beat the White Sox in his most recent outing Saturday.
Bradley has faced the Guardians five times in his career. He is 2-1 with a 1.48 ERA in those starts, and he has recorded 13 walks and 36 strikeouts in 30 1/3 innings.
Cleveland had not announced its starting pitchers beyond Friday for the critical series.
“We’re talking about a lot of different scenarios with the rotation,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said on Tuesday. “We don’t know what we’re going to do coming out of (Thursday) yet. There’s a lot of factors to talk through, and we’re always looking at what’s the best possibility for us to win the game.”
Jose Ramirez will try to snap out of a slump for Cleveland. He is hitting .125 (4-for-32) with no extra-base hits and zero RBIs in his past eight contests.
On the season, Ramirez has his lowest batting average and his lowest slugging percentage since 2015. A seven-time All-Star, he is hitting .234 this year with 11 homers and 48 RBIs to go along with 31 stolen bases in 35 attempts.
The Twins and Guardians have played each other 10 times this season. Minnesota leads the season series 6-4 but has been outscored 47-41.
Minnesota is 38-34 at home this season. Cleveland has the same record on the road.
–Field Level Media
