Twins-Washington series preview

Tuesday: RHP Jose Berrios (11-8, 3.78 ERA) vs. RHP Anibal Sanchez (8-7, 4.11)

Wednesday: LHP Martin Perez (10-6, 4.75) vs. RHP Stephen Strasburg (16-6, 3.50)

Thursday: RHP Kyle Gibson (13-6, 4.58) vs. LHP Patrick Corbin (11-7, 3.16)

The Twins (88-55), who are only 7-10 in interleague play this season, are dealing with numerous injury issues. CF Byron Buxton (shoulder) is out; he was examined in California on Monday and the Twins will issue a report Tuesday. OF Max Kepler (chest) left Sunday's game while IF-OF Marwin Gonzalez (oblique), DH Nelson Cruz (wrist), 3B Miguel Sano (back) were unavailable. Gibson (ulcerative colitis) returns from the injured list. … Mitch Garver homered Sunday, his 29th of the season but first as a DH; his other 28 were as a catcher. Twins catchers have 41 home runs (Jason Castro has 12 and Willians Astudillo one), two short of the MLB record held by three teams. … RHP Tyler Duffey has the longest active scoreless innings streak in the majors at 16⅓. He has 29 strikeouts in that stretch.

Washington (79-63), the NL wild-card leader, is 9-5 in interleague play. … This series marks the return of longtime Twins 2B Brian Dozier (.237, 19 homers, 45 RBI), who was traded last July. Also back are C Kurt Suzuki (.260, 16, 58), who is day-to-day because of right elbow inflammation, and RHP Fernando Rodney (5.54 ERA in 2019 but 3.28 since joining the Nationals). Sanchez was with the Twins in 2018 spring training but was released to make room for Lance Lynn. … 3B Anthony Rendon leads the majors with a .337 batting average and is second with 114 RBI. He has 32 home runs. … Strasburg has faced the Twins once, giving up four runs while striking out 10 in 7⅓ innings at home in April 2016. … Corbin, who has a 2.29 ERA with 116 strikeouts in 94⅓ innings in his past 15 starts, has never faced the Twins.

Chris Miller