Minnesota Twins (11-19, fourth in the AL Central) vs. Detroit Tigers (9-23, fifth in the AL Central)
Detroit; Friday, 7:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Twins: Matt Shoemaker (1-3, 7.83 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 14 strikeouts) Tigers: Tarik Skubal (0-4, 6.14 ERA, 1.68 WHIP, 18 strikeouts)
LINE: Tigers +127, Twins -146; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Minnesota enters the game as losers of their last three games.
The Tigers are 4-12 against opponents from the AL Central. Detroit has a team on-base percentage of .266, last in the majors. Robbie Grossman leads the team with a mark of .362.
The Twins are 5-4 against opponents from the AL Central. Minnesota has slugged .416, good for third in the MLB. Byron Buxton leads the club with a .772 slugging percentage, including 19 extra-base hits and nine home runs.
The Twins won the last meeting 3-2. Kenta Maeda secured his first victory and Jorge Polanco went 1-for-4 with a double and two RBIs for Minnesota. Matthew Boyd took his first loss for Detroit.
TOP PERFORMERS: Wilson Ramos leads the Tigers with six home runs and is batting .227.
Nelson Cruz is second on the Twins with eight home runs home runs and is slugging .580.
LAST 10 GAMES: Tigers: 2-8, .207 batting average, 6.08 ERA, outscored by 31 runs
Twins: 4-6, .233 batting average, 4.25 ERA, outscored opponents by seven runs
INJURIES: Tigers: Julio Teheran: (shoulder), Derek Holland: (left shoulder), Matthew Boyd: (undisclosed), Nomar Mazara: (undisclosed).
Twins: Edwar Colina: (right elbow), Byron Buxton: (hip), Luis Arraez: (concussion protocol), Alex Kirilloff: (right wrist).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
