Minnesota @ Chicago preview
Guaranteed Rate Field
Last Meeting ( Sep 14, 2010 ) Minnesota 9, Chi. White Sox 3
There was a time, not long ago, when the Minnesota Twins viewed Jesse Crain as their closer of the future.
That didn’t seem likely last season, when Crain was demoted to the minors, or early this season when he had an ERA over 5.00 in the middle of June. But since June 13, Crain has a 0.72 ERA and opponents are hitting just .150 off him. He hasn’t allowed a run in 36 of his last 39 appearances.
His closer as a future is still uncertain, but on Tuesday Crain may have closed out any shot the Chicago White Sox have at the playoffs.
Crain came on in the eighth inning and struck out Paul Konerko and Manny Ramirez with the bases loaded to end the inning.
The Twins blew the game open in the eighth for a 9-3 victory and enter Wednesday's game with a seven-game lead over Chicago in the American League Central Division.
The White Sox knew they needed to sweep this series, the last head-to-head meeting against Minnesota, to have any real shot at winning the division.
Chicago, which once held a 4 ½-game lead in the division, hasn’t gotten the type of production it was hoping for from Ramirez since claiming him off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ramirez went 0-for-3 on Tuesday with three strikeouts and left six runners on base. He is 3-for-21 with eight strikeouts over his last seven games.
With their postseason hopes on life support, the White Sox will give the ball to Gavin Floyd, who hasn’t pitched well against Minnesota. He is 0-3 with a 7.41 ERA in three starts against the Twins and was drilled for six runs on 10 hits, including two homers, in 6 2-3 innings in his last start against them on Aug. 12.
The Twins will counter with Brian Duensing, who has pitched well since joining the rotation in July. Duensing is 5-1 with a 2.18 ERA since becoming a regular member of the rotation. He has faced Chicago four times as a reliever this year and has allowed one run over seven innings.
In his most recent, Duensing allowed one run and six hits in eight innings last week to beat the Kansas City Royals.
Lost in the pennant chase was Twins catcher Joe Mauer’s 1,000th hit, which came on a single Tuesday in the first inning. The 11th player in team history to reach the milestone, Mauer has now hit safely in 25 of his last 32 games.