(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Cleveland ace Shane Bieber faces Twins' Kenta Maeda as Luis Arraez goes on IL
Two of baseball's top statistical pitchers face each other in the opener of a crucial three-game series at Target Field.
September 11, 2020 at 8:51PM
Twins righthander Kenta Maeda leads major league baseball's starting pitchers in WHIP (walks + hits per innings pitched) at 0.72. His opponent tonight, Cleveland's Shane Bieber, is dominating the rest of the statistical battles.
Bieber is 7-0 with a 1.25 ERA and 94 strikeouts in 57.2 innings, leading the majors in wins, ERA and strikeouts. His 1.60 FIP (fielding independent pitching) is also baseball's best. He's 5-0 in 10 games (nine starts) vs. the Twins with 76 Ks in 59.2 innings.
The Twins and Cleveland begin a three-game series (7:10 p.m., FSN) at Target Field with rain in the forecast. The teams are battling Chicago for first place in the American League Central; they are tied for second, a game behind the White Sox.
The Twins put second baseman Luis Arraez on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Wednesday, because of left knee tendinitis and recalled pitcher Devin Smeltzer from the St. Paul site.
Phil Miller took a look at the baseball playoff scenario in a nice enterprise story here.
Maeda is 4-1 with a 2.77 ERA in his first season with the Twins after coming from the Dodgers for "The Bazooka" Brusdar Graterol.
Lineups:
CLEVELAND
Francisco Lindor, SS
Cesar Hernandez, 2B
Jose Ramirez, 3B
Carlos Santana, 1B
Franmil Reyes, DH
Tyler Naquin, RF
Josh Naylor, LF
Roberto Perez, C
Delino DeShields, CF
TWINS
Jorge Polanco, SS
Josh Donaldson, 3B
Eddie Rosario, LF
Nelson Cruz, DH
Miguel Sano, 1B
Jake Cave, RF
Byron Buxton, CF
Marwin Gonzalez, 2B
Ryan Jeffers, C
Shane Bieber photo by Star Tribune's Carlos Gonzalez
The eight Twins headed for arbitration are Royce Lewis, Joe Ryan, Jhoan Duran, Bailey Ober, Ryan Jeffers, Willi Castro, Griffin Jax and Trevor Larnach.
