The Boston Red Sox will continue their home stand by welcoming the Minnesota Twins to Fenway Park for a three-game series. Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s first pitch will be at 7:10 PM, while the finale is a matinee game, with the first pitch set for 1:35 PM.
Red Sox Projected Starting Pitchers:
Game 1: Chris Sale (1-1, 11.25 ERA)
Sale comes into this one off a rough outing when he got roughed up by Tampa Bay. Sale hasn’t pitched badly in his first three starts he is just having a tough time locating, which is expected after not pitching since 2021, yes, he made two starts last season, but you can’t get in a groove off two starts. As time goes on, Sale will figure it out, and he will be effective again. Sale, in his career against Minnesota has made 21 starts with an 11-6 record, throwing 129 innings, giving up 117 hits and 162 strikeouts, posting a 4.19 ERA.
Game 2: Corey Kluber (0-3, 6.92 ERA)
Kluber is making his fourth start of the season, and he got roughed up by Tampa Bay in his last outing, going 4.2 innings and giving up four runs on four hits. In his previous start before that against the Pirates, he looked like the Kluber of old but just could not get any run support. Kluber is the guy who may give up two or three runs and keep you in games to get it to the bullpen just got to score runs for him. Against Minnesota, in his career, Kluber has made 24 starts posting a 10-7 record throwing 156.2 innings while striking out 169 Twins hitters and has a career ERA of 3.27.
Game 3: Tanner Houck (2-0, 4.50 ERA)
Houck has been solid in his move to the rotation, pitching 14 innings over three starts and posting a 4.50 ERA. Houck has gotten the run support in his starts throughout the season to help Houck. In his last start on Saturday against the Angels, he pitched four innings giving up two runs on four hits; he walked four and struck out six. In his career against Minnesota, Houck has made two starts with a 1-0 record and a 2.61 ERA in 10.1 innings of work, striking out ten.
Player To Watch: Enrique Hernandez (.175/2/8)
Kike has gotten hot as of late, even if his numbers don’t show it but he has hit the ball hard. In his last five games, he is five for 17 with one double, three RBI, and two runs scored. In his career against Minnesota, he is hitting .255 with two home runs and four RBI in 15 career games.
Prediction:
The Red Sox are coming in off a series win, taking three out of four from the Angels. Now they face the Minnesota Twins, who are off to a 10-6 start. The Red Sox will face some solid pitching from Minnesota and their starters, but they will have to worry about Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, and former Red Sox Christian Vazquez. The Twins also split a series against the Yankees, winning the first two and then losing the last two. I could see the Red Sox taking two out of three in this series as long as they can get to the Minnesota starters and keep the Twins lineup off-balance.
