The Cleveland Baseball Club is looking for their third consecutive win and second straight over the Minnesota Twins Tuesday.
Monday’s matchup provided all the drama one could need thanks to a clutch two-run homer from Jordan Luplow in extras. Now Cleveland is looking to win their second in a row against the Minnesota Twins.
Cleveland will be trotting out Aaron Civale as their start on Tuesday and he will be looking to build upon his performance from last Thursday. Civale allowed just 2 runs (3 total) in 5.1 innings against the Yankees. The issue for Civale in that start was the fact he walked four batters which led to his early departure. Civale has been lock solid this season and the most consistent starter not named Shane Bieber.
There are two Twins bats that Civale needs to be extra careful against in this start, Mitch Garver and Nelson Cruz. Garver has homered twice and Cruz once in six at-bats each. Neutralizing these two bats is a must if Cleveland is going to win their third consecutive game.
Minnesota’s starter will be Kenta Maeda and things have not gone well for him so far. Maeda has allowed 14 runs in 17.2 innings including 7 in his last start against Boston. In fact, Maeda has increasingly allowed more runs in his last three starts (2,3,7). This trend is bound to revert to the norm due to the high amount of runs allowed in his previous start, but it does indicate that he is not pitching at a level expected of him and that’s good for Cleveland.
Facing Maeda could be good news for the struggling Cesar Hernandez as he is 7-23 lifetime against the Twins starter with 3 doubles and 2 home runs. This could be the catalyst that Hernandez needs to finally get going this season.
