Twins Lead Shrinks With Loss to Braves

At one time, the Minnesota Twins had a lead in the American League Central that was 11 1/2 games over the Cleveland Indians. That is no longer the case. The Indians swept a double header at home against the Texas Rangers. Meanwhile, the Twins lost a home game at Target Field to the Atlanta Braves by a score of 11-7. The combination of the Twins loss and the Tribe’s pair of wins means that Minnesota is now clinging to a slim two game lead. The Twins are on pace to shatter the Major League record for home runs in a season. However, all of those homers did not help the Twins to maintain their previously huge lead.

The stage is set for one of the biggest series to be played at Target Field in a very long time. The Indians will come into town for a series of four games that will start Thursday night. There are 10 games that remain between the Indians and the Twins. Seven of those games will be played at Target Field. The team that does the best in those 10 games could very easily walk away with the division title.

The American League Central division was created in 1994. Ever since then, there have been very few close races in that division. One team usually runs away with it. That does not look like it will be the case this year. It would appear that things are going to go down to the wire between the Indians and Twins. Minnesota has been giving up a lot of runs lately. Their pitching staff got hammered by the Braves. This is a big concern for Twins manager Rocco Baldelli. He is not sure if the team’s rotation will be durable enough to pitch his team to the playoffs. Only time will tell.

The Twins did not pick up any starting pitching help before the trade deadline. They only picked up a pair of relief pitchers. This could come back to haunt them as the season progresses. The Indians do not seem to have any weaknesses at the moment. They addressed the need for offense by picking up a pair of power hitters. Their pitching staff is one of the best in baseball. Cleveland is trending upward and the Twins are headed in the opposite direction. The next four games will tell us a lot about their playoff chances.

Source: https://www.twincities.com/2019/08/06/twins-jose-berrios-gives-up-career-worst-nine-runs-in-blowout-loss-to-braves/