The Chicago White Sox pay the Minnesota Twins a visit on Monday as they open a three-game series.
The White Sox are having a rough season with their 46-77 record but they are still battling for victories. The White Sox have won four out of their last five games and they are coming off a come from behind 7-6 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.
Omar Narvaez drilled a home run and delivered the go ahead run with a single for the White Sox who rallied from a six-run deficit to come up with a victory. Avisail Garcia and Tim Anderson also homered for Chicago whose relievers pitched seven scoreless innings to help the team beat the Royals.
The Chicago White Sox will put right-hander Lucas Giolito on top of the mound on Monday. The 24-year-old has started 24 games this season and owns a record of 9-8 with an ERA of 6.15 and a WHIP of 1.50. Giolito leads the American League in walks with 72 BBs.
Giolito got the win in his last start as he allowed three runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out seven batters in six innings of pitch work during Tuesday’s 6-3 win over the Tigers. The Santa Monica, California native now has five quality starts in his last seven but he allowed 12 runs in 9.1 innings in the other two games, the reason why his ERA is 6.15.
Giolito has started 3 games against the Twins this season and has a record of 1-1 against Minnesota with an ERA of 2.89. In 18.2 innings pitched, he has given up 7 runs on 15 hits and 11 walks while fanning 7. He’s allowing the Twins a .221 batting average against him this season.
Eddie Rosario broke a tie with a home run in the 8th inning as the Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 5-4 on Sunday. Max Kepler and Jake Clave also delivered home runs for the Twins who have now won five out of their last six games. The Twins had a total of 15 homers during their homestand but they allowed 22 walks during the four-game set with the Tigers and that nearly cost them the win on Sunday.
Tyler Austin has played seven games for the Twins since the trade from the Yankees. Austin has 3 home runs and 5 RBIs while hitting .391 with his new team. Minnesota is currently at 59-64 and a full 12 games behind the American League Central leading Cleveland Indians. The Twins have scored a total of 554 runs this season but their pitchers have allowed 575 runs as well.
Stephen Gonsalves will make his first-ever Major League start for the Minnesota Twins. The 24-year-old San Diego, California native is a left-hander who was drafted by Minnesota with the 110th pick in the 4th round of the 2013 MLB draft. He went 9-3 for Triple-A Rochester this season and finished with an ERA of 2.96.
Gonsalves had a Minor League record of 53-20 with an ERA of 2.46 and a WHIP of 1.10. In 113 games started, Gonsalves pitched a total of 599 innings while giving up 181 runs on 423 hits with only 28 home runs allowed. He walked a total of 238 batters while fanning 634 others.
Giolito has a winning 5-4 record with an ERA of 4.54 on the road but he is also just 2-4 with an ERA of 5.28 in daytime games. He is also 1-1 with an ERA of 3.65 while allowing .244 batting average at Target Field. he White Sox are 12-39 in their last 39 opening games of a series and 1-7 in their last eight games played on a Monday.
Minnesota leads the season series 7-5. The Twins are 38-25 at home while the White Sox are just 22-38 on the road. Minnesota has a 36-30 record as the favorite while the White Sox are 37-63 as the underdogs. The White Sox are also just 9-20 against left-handed starters although Gonsalves is making his first career start.
This game is up for grabs because the Twins are letting Gonsalves have his first ever MLB start. Other than that, the Twins look good here. Their offense should be good enough to score the runs needed to beat the White Sox. With Austin and Rosario hitting well as of late, the Twins are in good shape here. We’re picking the Minnesota Twins to beat the Chicago White Sox on 8/20/18.
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