The Minnesota Twins saw Byron Buxton bring an end to an ugly streak in winning Friday night’s series opener with the Chicago White Sox. Now they’re hoping All-Star right-hander Sonny Gray can snap another one Saturday night.
Gray (4-4, 3.16 ERA), who has lost his past two starts, brings a 13-game winless streak into the contest. His last victory came on April 30 when he helped pitch the American League Central Division leaders to a 8-4 victory over Kansas City.
Gray comes in off a 7-6 loss at Seattle on Monday night when he allowed five runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked four, including Julio Rodriguez with the bases loaded during a four-run fifth inning, and struck out five. He also hit a batter.
Gray also was victimized by a big inning in his start against Baltimore before the All-Star break when he allowed six runs, including a pair of bases-loaded walks, in the second inning of a 6-2 loss.
“That’s just unacceptable, to be honest with you,” Gray said of his bases-loaded walks. “Maybe it’s a mindset but I’d rather give up back-to-back homers than continue to do what I’m doing. … It’s just the same thing over and over. That’s the frustrating part.
“I’ve got to figure it out. I mean, I’ve got to figure that out. I don’t know what that is, but I’ve got to figure it out.”
Maybe Gray can get a little advice from his teammate Buxton when it comes to ending a bad streak.
Buxton, who sat out a pair of games in Seattle to “reset,” snapped a 0-for-26 streak that included 16 strikeouts with two home runs and four RBIs in Friday night’s 9-4 series-opening win.
Buxton drilled a Lance Lynn fastball 427 feet deep into the bullpen in left-center for a three-run homer during a five-run first inning to snap the hitting drought. He added a homer in the fourth for his 10th career multi-homer game.
“It felt good, especially to be at home and get off to a start like that after the road trip was big for me,” Buxton said. “Just got to stay positive.”
“I bet it felt good,” Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I mean, the first ball he hit was like a torpedo heading out in that direction. Can’t hit a baseball much harder than that. A really impressive day for him.”
Alex Kirilloff homered and doubled and drove in four runs and Ryan Jeffers also hit a tape-measure homer off Chicago starter Lance Lynn. Lynn has allowed a major league-leading 28 home runs this season.
“I gave up four home runs,” Lynn said. “It’s hard to win when you do that.”
Chicago will turn to right-hander Dylan Cease (4-3, 4.18) to try to even the series. Cease is 4-4 with a 5.03 ERA in 11 career starts against Minnesota.
Cease snapped a streak of eight starts without a decision on Sunday afternoon with a 8-1 win at Atlanta. The Milton (Ga.) High School product, playing in front of approximately 40 friends and family, allowed one run on three hits over five innings. He walked three and struck out six.
“I feel great,” Cease, who grew up a Braves fan, said afterward. “I didn’t have the best command and they also did a good job battling and having long at-bats. Not a great combo for going deep, but I’m happy to get through five with one run and the ‘pen picked me up.”
–Field Level Media
