Tampa Bay faces Minnesota after Morton's strong outing
Minnesota Twins (37-18, first in the AL Central) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (35-19, second in the AL East)
St. Petersburg, Florida; Friday, 7 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Twins: Jose Berrios (7-2, 3.20 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 64 strikeouts) Rays: Ryne Stanek (0-1, 2.97 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 32 strikeouts)
BOTTOM LINE: The Rays are 17-11 in home games. Tampa Bay ranks fourth in the league in hitting with a .262 batting average, Austin Meadows leads the club with an average of .361.
The Twins are 18-9 in road games. The Minnesota offense has compiled a .272 batting average as a team this season, good for second in the majors. Jorge Polanco leads the team with an average of .335. The Rays won the last meeting 14-3. Charlie Morton notched his sixth victory and Meadows went 2-for-5 with a double and four RBIs for Tampa Bay. Martin Perez took his second loss for Minnesota.
TOP PERFORMERS: Tommy Pham leads the Rays with 62 hits and is batting .305. Meadows is 18-for-43 with four doubles, three home runs and 12 RBIs over the last 10 games for Tampa Bay.
Polanco leads the Twins with 28 extra base hits and has 26 RBIs. Max Kepler has 15 hits and is batting .000 over the last 10 games for Minnesota.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 8-2, .307 batting average, 2.67 ERA, outscored opponents by 32 runs
Twins: 7-3, .282 batting average, 4.30 ERA, outscored opponents by 24 runs
Rays Injuries: Tyler Glasnow: 60-day IL (forearm), Jose De Leon: 60-day IL (elbow), Anthony Banda: 60-day IL (elbow), Tommy Pham: day-to-day (leg), Joey Wendle: 10-day IL (wrist), Matt Duffy: 60-day IL (back), Yandy Diaz: 10-day IL (hand), Mike Zunino: 10-day IL (quad), Michael Perez: 10-day IL (oblique), Anthony Bemboom: 10-day IL (knee).
Twins Injuries: Michael Pineda: 10-day IL (knee), Adalberto Mejia: 10-day IL (calf), Nelson Cruz: 10-day IL (wrist), Mitch Garver: 10-day IL (ankle).
