BOSTON - John Gant wants to be a starting pitcher in the big leagues, and the Twins righthander will get another chance to show his stuff against the Red Sox at Fenway Park tonight (6:10, BSN).
Twins starter John Gant has tall task facing Red Sox ace Chris Sale
The teams split the first two in the three-game series at Fenway Park, with the Twins winning Wednesday's game in extra innings.
August 26, 2021 at 8:28PM
Gant, who was acquired from the Cardinals at the deadline for J.A. Happ, is 4-7 with a 3.77 ERA this season overall. It's his second start for the Twins (he also has seven relief appearances) and 14 of his 25 games with St. Louis were starts.
He'll face 6-foot-6 lefthander Chris Sale (2-0, 1.80), who missed last season because of Tommy John surgery and was finally activated earlier this month.
The 32-year-old is a seven-time All-Star and is baseball's all-time leader in strikeouts per nine innings at 11.0876.
The Twins won Wednesday's slugfest 9-6 in 10 innings.
Jorge Polanco gets the night off, at least to start the game, for the Twins.
The Sox called up Jarren Duran from Class AAA Worcester after Hunter Renfroe went on the family emergency/bereavement list.
TWINS LINEUP
Rob Refsnyder, RF
Brent Rooker, LF
Josh Donaldson, DH
Miguel Sano, 1B
Luis Arraez, 2B
Ryan Jeffers, C
Willians Astudillo, 3B
Nick Gordon, CF
Andrelton Simmons, SS
RED SOX LINEUP
Enrique Hernandez, SS
Kyle Schwarber, DH
J.D. Martinez, LF
Rafael Devers, 3B
Alex Verdugo, RF
Christian Vazquez, C
Christian Arroyo, 2B
Jarren Duran, CF
Bobby Dalbec, 1B
The speculation surrounding shortstop Carlos Correa’s availability in a trade was overblown this week, Twins officials indicated at the winter meetings in Dallas.
