Mitch Garver will hit cleanup as Twins open series with Astros

The Twins open a four-game series against Houston tonight at Target Field (6:40 p.m., FSN).

The Twins are in first place in the American League Central after sweeping Baltimore over the weekend with another home run attack ... but things will get a lot dicier this week with series against the Astros and then at Yankee Stadium.

Nelson Cruz gets a night off and catcher Mitch Garver (pictured) moves into the cleanup spot. Eddie Rosario will be the DH and Jake Cave starts in left field.

Garver leads the Twins with a .372 batting average, although he doesn't have enough plate appearances to qualify for the American League lead. If he did, he would be second behind Chicago's Tim Anderson (.402).

Jake Odorizzi starts for the Twins tonight, and gets the tough task of facing Astros ace Justin Verlander.

Note:Mike Petriello of MLB.com had an interesting tweet (@mike_petriello) about former Twins reliever Ryan Pressly: Ryan Pressly since joining the @astros last July 27: 37 games 35.2 IP 0.50 ERA (2 ER, 1 coming on July 28 HOU debut) 45/3 K/BB .230 xwOBA (3rd best in MLB, min 100 batters atmlb.com/2V52pyU).