It seems the pendulum has finally swung back the other way for the Minnesota Twins. After back-to-back series sweeps at the hand of the Yankees and Guardians, the Twins have won eight of their last 11 games and are going for a fourth straight series victory.
Things got off to a great start on Friday night down in Houston, where Minnesota had no problem running through the Astros. The Twins handed Ronel Blanco his first truly bad start of the season win a 6-1 victory.
The win is also cathartic in that it helps the team punch back after Houston bounce Minnesota from the ALDS last October. Plenty of work still needs to be done for the Twins to get back to that level, but the way the team won on Friday was a huge confidence booster that can hopefully carry them into a successful weekend.
Twins vs. Astros probable starting pitchers, June 1
After a phenomenal start by Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan (4-3, 2.96 ERA) will look to follow up not only what happened on Friday night but will look to keep his own hot streak going. Ryan has finally started to develop into the ace the Twins need him to be alongside Lopez, and he has a chance to further solidify that on Saturday.
Ever since getting roughed up by the Yankees a few weeks ago, Ryan bounced back with a pair of solid outings against Washington and Kansas City. He combined for 15 strikeouts over 14 innings in those two starts, allowing just seven hits and a single run.
That’s the Joe Ryan the Twins have been wanting to see for a while and it seems he’s finally found his groove this season.
Framer Valdez (3-3, 4.34 ERA) will be on the other side going for the Houston Astros. He saw the Twins last year in the ALDS but would probably like to forget that. He pitched the only game Houston lost, getting blasted for five runs on seven hits in just 4.1 innings of work.
