The Twins will get another crack at Royals righthander Jorge Lopez, who took a perfect game into the ninth inning at Target Field before giving up a run.
"I was impressed with how he got through that game in terms of really trusting his fastball command early in the game and getting some weak contact," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "Not revealing his pitches until the second and the third time through. And the fact that he commanded them all and kept us off balance in terms of just confidence in throwing different pitches in different counts and situations."
Jake Cave is getting a crack at the No. 3 spot, as Molitor deals with players being unavailable and needing to give the slumping Logan Forsythe a break.
Mitch Garver and Miguel Sano took batting practice before the game. Garver is progressing well after taking a foul ball off the mask on Sunday. I asked if Sano could pinch hit, and Molitor thought it would be tempting to have him available to do that, but they want to take their time with the burly third baseman.
Twins
Joe Mauer, 1B
Jorge Polanco, SS
Jake Cave, CF
Robbie Grossman, LF
Max Kepler, RF
Willians Astudillo, C
Ehire Adrianza, 3B
Tyler Austin, DH
Gregorio Petit, 2B
Jose Berrios, RHP
Royals
Whit Merrifield, 2B
Aldalberto Mondesi, SS
Alex Gordon, LF
Salvy Perez, C
Hunter Dozier, 3B
Ryan O'Hearn, 1B
Jorge Bonifacio, RF
Brian Goodwin, CF
Rosell Herrera, DH
Jorge Lopez, RHP
