The Cleveland Indians just played spoiler. The Tribe swept a four-game series from the suddenly reeling Chicago White Sox on Thursday, increasing the Twins’ lead in the division to one game going into the final weekend of the 2020 season.
The Twins host the Cincinnati Reds this weekend, while the White Sox host the Chicago Cubs. Weekend play will decide which team wins the division.
The Twins were off on Thursday, but after Wednesday’s win, the Twins pulled ahead of the Pale Hose by a half-game. The Twins raced out to an early lead against the Detroit Tigers, then held on for a 7-6 win.
Starter Kenta Maeda, who improved to 6-1, was backed by three home runs: two from Jake Cave, who also made a nice catch in left field, and Eddie Rosario, who hit his 13th of the season.
Maeda made a quality start. He allowed three runs over six innings with no walks and nine strikeouts. The bullpen got knocked around in the ninth, but Sergio Romo finally closed out the game for his fifth save of the season.
Jose Berrios gets the ball Friday against the Reds.
Extra innings…
-The Twins finished the season series against the AL Central like this: They were 7-3 against Cleveland, 6-4 versus Detroit and 5-5 against both the White Sox and Royals, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
-The Reds come to Target Field with the worst team batting average in the National League at .211, the third best pitching staff and the second best team in fielding. In those same categories in the American League, the Twins rank ninth, second and second. Game on, folks.
Source: ESPN.com.