Ervin Santana (7-10, 3.54 ERA) and Dillon Gee (6-7, 4.33 ERA) are on the hill in the second of a three-game series between the Minnesota Twins (51-87) and the Kansas City Royals (71-66) at Target Field. The Royals won the last game 11-5, and Kansas City leads the series 1-0. Action begins at 8:10 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Sep. 6 and can be seen on FSKC and FSN.
Santana pitched 5.0 innings in his most recent start, surrendering two runs, striking out six and walking two in an 8-5 win over the White Sox. Brian Dozier (.279, 92 Rs, 38 HRs, 91 RBIs, 13 SBs) had another good game yesterday, going 3 for 5 with three runs, three home runs, and four RBIs. Gee went 1.0 inning, surrendering zero runs in a 7-6 defeat to the Tigers in his last outing. Eric Hosmer (.273, 70 Rs, 21 HRs, 87 RBIs, 5 SBs) has been successful at the plate, going 2 for 3 yesterday with two runs, one home run, and four RBIs.
Notes
Minnesota has won 44% (27-35) of its games when leading after seven innings. However, Kansas City has won 47% (27-31) of its games when taking a late lead.
The Royals are coming into this meeting after a high-scoring game where they scored an impressive 11 runs. The Twins have a 0-9 record when opponents score that many runs or more.
When they outhit their opponents, the Twins are 37-12. The Royals have a 54-17 record when outhitting opponents.
Ranking 25th, Kansas City sits near the bottom of the league in runs, scoring 563 this season. Minnesota ranks in the top 10 with 642.
Ranking 26th, Kansas City is near the bottom of the league for its on-base plus slugging percentage (.715). Minnesota ranks in the top half at 12th with an OPS of .754.
The Royals are 44-54 in games where they allow one or more home runs. The Twins are 37-72 when they allow at least one homer.
