2021 Series Preview: Houston Astros @ Minnesota Twins

Excuses, Excuses: Hey everyone, unfortunately I don’t have time for a long form preview for this series thanks to my day job being on my phone super early this morning. But I had a few minutes so I’ll give you a quick overview along with a series poll, just because y’all are so good looking.

Overview: The Twins are a team that has thoroughly and completely failed to live up to expectations. Winning their division in the shortened 2020 season, it was thought that Minnesota had arrived as a contender. However, the team fell flat on its face out of the gate and hasn’t recovered, sinking to 5th place in the division.

Offense: The offense has turned in some surprising numbers for a fifth place team, owning a collective OPS of .745, which is good for 6th place in the league. Unfortunately for the Twins, a lot of that number is tied up in Byron Buxton (.370/.408/.772), who is currently on a rehab assignment and has played in less half of the Twins’ games this season.

Nelson Cruz (.287/.361/.525) has been the Twins’ best player who has played in a majority of the games, and continues to prove that age is just a number. He also hit a walk off homer against Aroldis Chapman just last night, so not too shabby.

Pitching: It seems as though the pitching has been the real problem for the Twins this season. Their collective ERA of 4.87 is 27th in the league, and they are 2nd worst in MLB when it comes to both strikeouts (498) and home runs surrendered (91). They’ve also blown 9 of the 23 save opportunities they’ve had this season, which is not a recipe for success.

Closer: Taylor Rogers (LHP, 3.20 ERA, 24.1 IP, 5 SV, 34 K’s)

Last 10 Games: 4-6, 2 Series Loss (BAL & NYY), 1 Series Split (KC)

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Jose Urquidy (RHP, 4-3, 3.76 ERA, 47 K’s) vs Matt Shoemaker (RHP, 2-7, 7.28 ERA, 34 K’s)

Game 2: Luis Garcia (RHP, 5-3, 2.75 ERA, 68 K’s) vs Jose Berrios (RHP, 6-2, 3.58 ERA, 73 K’s)

Game 3: Framber Valdez (LHP, 2-0, 1.47 ERA, 22 K’s) vs Michael Pineda (RHP, 3-3, 3.46 ERA, 50 K’s)

For Your Viewing and Listening Pleasure

Game 1: Friday, June 11th @ 7:10 pm CDT
Listen: Astros - KBME 790 AM/94.5 FM HD-2, KLAT 1010, KTRH 740 AM/99.1 FM HD-2 / Twins - WCCO 830, Audacy, The Wolf 102.9 FM, TIBN
Watch: Astros - ATT SportsNet-SW / Twins - Ball Sports North

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Game 2: Saturday, June 12th @ 6:15 pm CDT
Listen: Astros - KBME 790 AM/94.5 FM HD-2, KLAT 1010 / Twins - WCCO 830, The Wolf 102.9 FM, TIBN
Watch: FOX

Game 3: Sunday, June 13th @ 1:10 pm CDT
Listen: Astros - KBME 790 AM/94.5 FM HD-2, KLAT 1010 / Twins - WCCO 830, The Wolf 102.9 FM, TIBN, twinsbeisbol.com
Watch: Astros - ATT SportsNet-SW / Twins - Ball Sports North