Twins hope offensive dominance of Sale, White Sox at home continues
Needing to make a September playoff push, the Wild Card-contending Minnesota Twins begin a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.
The series is at home, which is a good thing for the Twins, who have dominated the White Sox over their last 10 games at Target Field. They've gone 8-2 and offensively bludgeoned Chicago in the Twin Cities.
White Sox vs. Twins at Target Field (Last 10 Games)
| Category | White Sox | Twins |
| Wins | 2 | 8 |
| Runs per Game | 3.0 | 7.0 |
| Starter ERA | 6.75 (40/53.1) | 3.30 (21/57.1) |
| Team BA | .277 (96/347) | .336 (119/354) |
| Home Runs | 6 | 12 |
Further helping their cause at the plate on Tuesday, Minnesota has come out swinging the bats strongly in the first game of their last seven series (home or road).
Twins’ Numbers in Last 7 Series
| Category | Game 1 | All Other Games |
| Record | 5-2 (.714) | 8-7 (.533) |
| Runs per Game | 7.1 (50/7) | 4.3 |
| Home Runs | 12 | 18 |
| Team BA | .283 (71/251) | .241 |
Coming in with that kind of first-game-of-the-series success on offense, the Twins will face White Sox ace Chris Sale on Tuesday and hope it continues. Although Sale, one of the American League's best pitchers, is 12-7 with a 3.20 ERA and 229 strikeouts 171 1/3 innings this season, he has been up and down (initially very up and lately very down) against the Twins.
Sale’s Career Numbers as Starter vs. Twins
| Category | First 9 Starts | Last 3 Starts |
| Record | 7-1 | 0-3 |
| ERA | 2.58 | 8.15 |
| Opponent BA | .232 | .303 |
| WHIP | 1.04 | 1.53 |
One player who may be happy to see Sale is Twins second baseman Brian Dozier, who has only hit one home run in his last 58 at bats but has the second-most career homers against Sale.
MLB Players, Most Career Home Runs vs. Sale
| Player | HRs |
| Victor Martinez | 4 |
| Brian Dozier | 3 |
| Billy Butler | 3 |
| Lorenzo Cain | 3 |
| Adam Rosales | 3 |
More evidence of the Twins' enjoying their own home cooking was the starting rotation in August, which had the fourth-lowest ERA in the majors at Target Field during the month. That almost made up for the fact that the staff had an MLB-high 7.79 ERA on the road in August.
MLB Teams, Lowest Home ERA in August 2015 by Starters
| Team | ERA |
| New York Mets | 2.03 |
| Houston Astros | 2.05 |
| Oakland A’s | 2.23 |
| Minnesota Twins | 2.38 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 2.68 |
But even though Minnesota has owned Chicago at Target Field, the White Sox still have something going for them -- they have been the best road club in the AL since the end of June.
AL Teams, Best Road Records (Since June 30)
| Team | Record |
| Chicago White Sox | 14-9 (.609) |
| New York Yankees | 15-10 (.600) |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 15-12 (.556) |
| Cleveland Indians | 16-14 (.533) |
Which of these trends will continue and which will end? Which forces will prevail and can the Twins keep hammering Sale? We'll find out over the next few days.
