MLB Game Preview - Minnesota at Kansas City

Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:15 PM EDT

Minnesota left-hander Martin Perez will try to snap a winless drought that is closing in one month on Friday night when the visiting Twins face the Kansas City Royals.

Perez (7-3, 4.09 ERA) has gone four starts since picking up his last victory in a 16-7 win over the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif., on May 23rd. He comes in off a 8-6 loss to Royals last Sunday at Target Field, when he allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits and a walk in 6 2/3 innings.

Perez is 1-1 with a 3.08 ERA in four career starts against Kansas City and has performed well in Kauffman Stadium, where he is 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA in two starts.

Kansas City won Thursday night's series opener 4-1 behind the standout pitching of Glenn Sparkman, who held the Twins to five hits and one run over seven innings.

The Royals will counter Perez with right-hander Jakob Junis (4-6, 5.33). Junis is 0-1 with a 4.55 ERA in six career starts against Minnesota and picked up a no decision in Sunday's win in Minneapolis, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings.

Although Minnesota has a 22 1/2-game lead over Kansas City in the American League's Central Division, it's the Royals who have come into Friday night's contest with momentum. They've won four of their last five, including two in a row over the Twins, who have lost four of their last five.

Thursday night's win was particularly impressive for the Royals since it came against Jake Odorizzi, who entered the contest tied for the most wins in the majors (10) and leading the American League with a 2.24 ERA. But Alex Gordon hit a two-run double to spark a three-run first inning, and Sparkman and relievers Jake Diekman and Ian Kennedy made it hold up by limiting the Twins to just five hits.

"It's a scary offense," Gordon said of the Twins, who lead the majors with 141 home runs while batting an AL-best .271. "Every guy in that lineup can do some damage, so for Sparkman to go out and do what he did all night is impressive. That's probably one of the best offenses I've seen in a while, so give Sparky a lot of credit."

The Royals improved to 2-4 against the Twins, but three of the losses were by one run and the other came on an eighth-inning two-run homer by catcher Mitch Garver in a 2-0 loss.

"I feel good," Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. "We're playing good. Today, I was very pleased."

Minnesota has managed to score just five runs on 14 hits in its last two games since winning a marathon 17-inning 4-3 game over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night, a contest that lasted five hours and 45 minutes.

Garver left Thursday's loss in the sixth inning with heel soreness, and Twins manager Rocco Baldelli hinted that his team, which skipped batting practice after arriving in Kansas City at 2:30 a.m., could still be feeling the impact of that long contest.

"(Garver) has some heel soreness and for now we're going to treat him," Baldelli said. "... Could it be something to do with the 17 innings he caught the other night? I wouldn't be surprised if it's something related to that. ... It's something we didn't want to take a chance with. We just wanted to get him out of the game."

--Field Level Media