Twins, Rays press the reset button in front of the series
The Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays have more in common than the relationship between their managers and their respective statuses this season as the American League Cinderella team.
Both teams really need a holiday that they finally got on Monday.
The Twins and Rays will expect 24-hour leave to do some good things on Tuesday night, when Minnesota host Tampa Bay in the three-match opening series.
Kyle Gibson's right hand (7-4, 4.18 ERA) is scheduled to take the twins for the Twins against left-handed Blake Snell (4-6, 4.40 ERA).
The Rays continued their 10th match on Sunday with an 8-2 win over the Oakland Athletics. The Twins host missed the chance to win a four-match series from the Kansas City Royals in a 6-1 defeat.
The win was only the second of the trip for Sinar, who suffered three matches sweeping the New York Yankees last Monday to Wednesday and losing four matches in the standings last week to the East American League leaders. Tampa Bay enters Monday 4 1/2 matches behind New York.
But Sunday's victory at least allowed Sinar to get out of their frustration before their first day since June 3. Tampa Bay outpaced 33-15 in the first six matches of the trip before driving for 15 hits on Sunday, the most in a single match since May 30.
"I don't know whether all the attacks were a relief to them, but it relieved me," said Sinar manager Kevin Cash afterwards. "Obviously, there is some frustration there. Today, he was hit by a blow. Very encouraging."
The Twins' loss dropped them to 3-5 in their last eight matches and 7-6 since their last holiday on June 10, the range where AL Central Minnesota leaders over the Cleveland Indians have dropped to eight matches - the closest to Indians is the first since May 24.
No wonder Twin manager Rocco Baldelli, who spent the previous four seasons on Cash staff, looked forward to Monday.
"I think it's good for us to be home and not come to the soccer field," Baldelli said Sunday afternoon. "Physically and mentally, I think our people deserve it."
Gibson and Snell were both hit hard when they suffered losses at the beginning of last Wednesday.
Gibson gave up six times more than the lowest season 4 1/3 when the Twins fell to the Boston Red Sox, 9-4. The six highest season-bound runs for Gibson were set against the Royals at the beginning of this year on April 3.
Snell allowed six runs while recording only one at the beginning of his shortest career because Sinar suffered a 12-1 defeat to the Yankees. It was only the second time in 89 major leagues that Snell had not yet entered the second inning.
Gibson is 3-5 with an ERA of 5.22 in nine careers starting against Sinar. Snell was 1-1 with a 5.12 ERA in four starting against the Twins.Upcoming Scheduled Games
Tampa Bay Rays vs. Minnesota Twins
Thursday, June 27, 2019
1:10pm EDT
