Twins starter Kenta Maeda faces Tigers, coming off best outing of the season

Maeda blanked Kansas City for six innings in his previous start, which included a new uniform look.

July 9, 2021 at 8:15PM
Kenta Maeda notched a career-high 10 strikeouts last Sunday in Kansas City. (Charlie Riedel, Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

After tossing six shutout innings in his last start, Kenta Maeda will try to make it two strong outings in a row Friday night, when the Twins play the Tigers at Target Field (7:10, BSN).

Maeda (4-5, 5.03 ERA) has struggled most of the season, but he held the Royals to two hits with one walk and a season-high 10 strikeouts last Sunday. He changed his look for that game, switching to high socks and that seemed to help him.

"I wore high socks during practice and I looked good," he said. "So why not?"

The Twins won that one 6-2 at Kansas City and added another victory Thursday against Detroit in the opener of this four-game series. The Tigers will counter Friday with righthander Matt Manning (1-2, 7.94).

TWINS LINEUP

Luis Arraez, 2B

Josh Donaldson, 3B

Trevor Larnach, LF

Nelson Cruz, DH

Alex Kirilloff, RF

Jorge Polanco, SS

Max Kepler, CF

Miguel Sano, 1B

Ben Rortvedt, C

TIGERS LINEUP

Akil Baddoo, CF

Jonathan Schoop, 2B

Robbie Grossman, LF

Miguel Cabrera, 1B

Jeimer Candelario, 3B

Eric Haase, DH

Nomar Mazara, RF

Zack Short, SS

Jake Rogers, C

about the writer

about the writer

Joe Christensen

Sports team leader

Joe Christensen, a Minnesota Star Tribune sports team leader, graduated from the University of Minnesota and spent 15 years covering Major League Baseball, including stops at the Riverside Press-Enterprise and Baltimore Sun. He joined the Minnesota Star Tribune in 2005 and spent four years covering Gophers football.

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