Sept. 9 – The Minnesota Twins will begin a crucial six-game homestand when they take on the Los Angeles Angels in a three-game series in Minneapolis on Monday night.
Minnesota (76-67) ran into trouble after sweeping Kansas City in a three-game series over the weekend. With 19 games left in the regular season, the Twins are five games behind the Cleveland Guardians for first place in the AL Central and 2.5 games behind the second-place Royals.
Twins head coach Rocco Baldelli did not take questions from reporters after his team’s 2-0 loss Sunday. Minnesota leads the series 11-2.
“We just played an amateur baseball series, and that’s my only comment,” Baldelli said before concluding his postgame press conference.
The Angels (59-84) have been out of the playoff race for a while, but they have a chance to stir things up against the Twins. Los Angeles is coming off a three-game loss in a four-game series with the Texas Rangers, including Sunday’s game, a 7-4 defeat.
Angels head coach Ron Washington said he looked forward to seeing more action from the young players in the final weeks of the season.
“Anytime you play baseball at the major league level, you’re auditioning and it’s a learning experience,” Washington said. “I just want them to play baseball and understand the game. The things they don’t understand, we’re going to help them understand.”
“But they have some skills, and I hope they can bring those skills here … You can be here and gain experience, but you have to bring your own skills. You can’t come here blind.”
Twins right-hander David Festa (2-5, 4.75 ERA) is another young player looking to prove to his team he belongs in the majors. The 24-year-old Seton Hall product made his major league debut this year and accumulated 58 strikeouts in 47 1/3 innings.
In his most recent outing, Festa allowed two runs on five hits in five innings against the Tampa Bay Rays last Tuesday. He has lost his last three outings.
This will be Festa’s first career game against the Angels.
Los Angeles will face left-hander Reid Detmers (3-6, 5.87), who is expected to make his 14th start of the season.
The 25-year-old left-hander is hoping to make two consecutive quality starts after a strong performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers last Tuesday. Detmers limited the Dodgers to two runs on three hits, two walks and struck out 10 in six innings.
In four career games against Minnesota, Detmers is 0-2 with a 6.41 ERA. That included a rock outing earlier this season in which he allowed five runs on nine hits over five-plus innings in a loss to the Twins.
The Twins know they have to perform more to make the playoffs. They have lost 14 of their last 20 games.
“We’ve got to find a way,” Minnesota catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “It’s not necessarily that we have to hit a home run or hit the ball better … (but) just put bad hitters together and try to find a way to win games.”
–Visual-level media
