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The Twins and Royals will meet up for their final series of 2020 beginning tonight. The Twins are 3-4 against KC this season with a -1 run differential so hopefully they can turn it around tonight.Thursday’s series finale recap: It’s a Blessed Jose Berrios Day! TODAY Twins @ Royals, 7:05 pm CDT Betting Lines: MIN -180, KC +155, O/U: 9.5 Twins Starter: Jake Odorizzi, RHP 5.14 ERA Jake Odorizzi will be taking the mound for his third start of the season tonight. His first start didn’t go well, but there was good reason for that as he was coming off the injured list. His last start went better, but still not great as he went just four innings giving up two runs on three hits with six strikeouts. Today the Twins will be looking for at least five innings from Odorizzi. It’s early, but the 2019 All Star has dropped his fastball usage by 20% so far since last season. That was his best pitch a year ago so maybe this is just a case of a small sample size not proving anything, but it is certainly odd that he would drop by that much. He is throwing his split finger, changeup, and curveball all at an increased rate so far. Royals Starter: Danny Duffy, LHP 4.44 ERA Danny Duffy, the Royals 2020 Opening Day starter, will be making his sixth start of the season. He has had a pretty solid start to his campaign with a 4.44 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 28 strikeouts in 24.0 innings. This is already his tenth season in the majors and all of them have been in Kansas City. The Twins have seen him a lot, and maybe today they can get him early. Duffy started in game two of the recent double header between these two teams and did very well. He threw five innings of one run ball while allowing just two hits and striking out eight. The lone run came on a sacrifice fly from Marwin Gonzalez to drive in Jorge Polanco. The Twins will have a few new faces since that series so maybe things will go differently. Twins Lineup: Interesting lineup for the Twins today: News & Notes: - Ryan Jeffers made his MLB debut last nightand looked great. He went two for three and drove in a run in his first MLB at bat. He was also behind the plate for Berrios’ best start of 2020. -It was great to see Jose Berrios on his game yesterday. It was the best we have seen him all season and the Twins will need him to continue to look like that all year. -The Padres are the most fun team in baseball. Last night they had a grand slam for the fourth night in a row and they all came against the Texas Rangers who are known for hating fun. - The AL Central is going to be tight. The Royals and Tigers are at the bottom as expected but the White Sox and Indians are right behind the Twins. Cleveland has won six in a row and Chicago has won five, keeping both teams near the top. AROUND THE AL CENTRAL: -White Sox 9, Tigers 0 -Indians 2, Pirates 0 1. MIN 17-9 (-) 2. CLE 16-9 (0.5 GB) 3. CWS 15-11 (2.0 GB 4. KCR 10-15 (6.5 GB) 5. DET 9-14 (6.5 GB) See Also: Precious Child Thanks Rich Hill for New, Fun Words Jeffers Shines in Big League Debut The One PLayer Minnesota Shouldn’t Trade for MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

The Minnesota Twins’ acquisition of second baseman Jonathan Schoop has been considered by most as a low-risk, high-reward move by general manager Thad Levine and president Derek Falvey. It is that, but going ignored is the immediate impact the move has on the Twins’ chances in the American League (AL) Central Division. The AL Central was really bad in 2018. Three teams posted winning percentages below .400, which was one more than the rest of Major League Baseball (MLB). Cleveland, the eventual division champions, were seven wins better than the Twins within the division despite winning the season series over Minnesota 10-9. The Twins just weren’t good enough in games against the AL Central’s worst teams in 2018, especially at the plate. The addition of Schoop for one season at an affordable $7.5 million salary addresses that issue. Schoop Scorches the AL Central The AL Central rosters as of this writing bode well for Schoop and the Twins. Over his career, Schoop has a combined batting average of .357 against Minnesota’s division opponents in 168 at-bats. In fact, the only team in the Central with which he’s “struggled” is the Twins, with a .275 batting average but .833 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). Let’s look at how Schoop has fared against the AL Central teams the Twins will have to beat to make the playoffs. Kansas City Royals (32 AB, 12 H, .375/.394/.406) The Twins didn’t win nearly enough games against the AL Central’s worst team last season. Minnesota lost the season series to Kansas City 10-9, allowing four more runs than they scored over the course of those games. Minnesota was considerably worse on offense against the Royals than the rest of the league, as evidenced by its sOPS+ of 95. Schoop could make an immediate impact in games against the Royals. Schoop wouldn’t mind if Danny Duffy returns healthy for Kansas City, having accrued eight hits in 16 career at-bats against him. He has two hits in six at-bats against Ian Kennedy, too. While Schoop hasn’t shown much power against the Royals (0 HR, 1 2B) his .394 OBP would be a welcome addition for a team that only reached base at a .347 clip against the Royals last season. Chicago White Sox (28 AB, 12 H, .429/.433/.571) There wasn’t a divisional opponent the Twins struggled with more than the White Sox. Despite winning the season series 12-7, relative to the rest of the league, the Twins were terrible at the plate against the White Sox. The Twins’ sOPS+ of 91 was only better than their performances against five other teams. Schoop again can make an immediate impact. Schoop’s career batting average (.429) and on-base percentage (.433) against the White Sox is better than what he’s posted against any other AL team. Only his slugging percentages against Houston and Texas are better than the .571 slugging percentage he’s posted against White Sox pitching. Schoop especially likes hitting against Carlos Rodon and newly acquired closer Alex Colome, against whom he’s a combined seven of 19 with five RBI. Detroit Tigers (49 AB, 18 H, .367/.404/.531) The Twins were 12-7 against the Tigers in 2018, too, but only hit them as well as they did Cleveland relative to the rest of the league. Schoop, however, has hit Detroit pitching pretty well, especially Michael Fulmer. In eight at-bats, Schoop has four hits including a home run, a double, and four RBI. Schoop also has four hits in 12 at-bats against newly acquired free agent Matt Moore, whom the Tigers intend to use as a starter. Cleveland Indians (59 AB, 18 H, .305/.311/.441) While Schoop hasn’t hit Cleveland pitching like he has the rest of the AL Central, he’s still a potential upgrade at his position against them. With the performance the Twins got out of the second base position last season, it wouldn’t take much. Only production by Twins’ catchers and designated hitters were worse than the production they got from second basemen last season, and Minnesota’s .365 slugging percentage from second basemen was worst amongst its roster of hitters. Schoop will have an immediate impact on games against Cleveland’s ace, Corey Kluber, against whom he is four of 12 with a double and a homer in his career. He’s also six for 11 and has driven in four against Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer. Against Danny Salazar, Schoop has two hits in five at-bats. Coincidence Schoop's now a Twin? I think not.

The Twins’ home opening crowd gathered early in downtown, filling the area’s establishments with a hum that can only come from the exhilaration of skipping a day of responsibility in order to consume the first baseball game of the season in gorgeous weather. Even after several years of ineptitude and 90+ losses, Monday would still bring the first sellout at Target Field since August 2013 and all would be forgiven with a clean slate. Well, as clean as a one-and-five slate can be. Credit the Twins for doing the best they could to distract everyone with the new items around the ballpark. There were new bars, new food offerings, new drink rails, new hooded sweatshirts. But the festivities and feelgoodery would last only until the end of the seventh inning when it became clear that the same old problems exist.A mixture of poor defense, bad bullpen and unproductive chunks of the lineup would sink the Twins for their first home loss in 2015. Before the start of the game, Trevor Plouffe was asked if the team was looking for respite from the steady barrage of elite pitchers like David Price, Anibal Sanchez and Chris Sale. With a 2-for-19 start to his season, no one would fault the Twins’ third baseman for seeking more humane matchups. Plouffe just shook his head. “This is the big leagues and you gotta want to face those guys and if you don’t want to face those guys then you shouldn’t be here. We are also in a tough division for pitching and we have to face them all year.” After striking out in each of his first two at bats against Royals’ starter Danny Duffy, in the bottom of the seventh Plouffe launched Duffy’s 1-1 offering into the left field bleachers to bring the Twins within two. The home run would be his 36th at Target Field - the most by any hitter. Before the game Plouffe acknowledged that the team’s offensive shortcomings but believed there would be a feast at the end of the famine. “We obviously didn’t hit like we wanted to hit the first six games but I think that we’re going to be very capable and score some runs this year. So I don’t think anyone is going to be too worry about the way we started. We’d like to have hit better but we’re not worried about it.” Plouffe’s contribution on Monday would not be nearly enough to help starting pitcher Trevor May, who would pitch well but ultimately be undone by the stomach-turning performance from his defense behind him. In the third, Lorenzo Cain was able to score Salvador Perez on a sacrifice fly which was set up earlier in the inning by several middle infield misplays by Danny Santana and Brian Dozier. In the sixth, Cain doubled to right with Mike Moustakas on base. Cain moved up to third and Moustakas scored when Torii Hunter threw the ball back to the infield to simply no one in particular. In the following at-bat, Cain scored on Eric Hosmer’s deep drive to the spacious left-center field bullpen alley. Twins left fielder Oswaldo Arcia gave chase and covered just enough real estate to have the ball deflect off his glove at the wall. May left the game after 78 pitches and several effective innings with a scattering of a few hard hit balls, including Kendrys Morales’ 405' shot to right-center field. Manager Paul Molitor said he opted to remove him from the game after the Royals’ contact grew louder in the sixth despite the low pitch count. “All the guys behind me earned their way here and deserve to be here and I know everyone’s working and doing everything they can,” May said after the game refusing to place the blame on his teammates in the field. “Sometimes you just need them to hit it a little bit harder or softer.” Following Plouffe’s seventh inning home run, the Twins were within two but a six-run eighth inning put the game firmly out of reach. The inning was punctuated by two hit batsmen, a fumbled grounder by Danny Santana and four Twins pitchers needed to record three outs. When asked whether the defense of the game was concerning to him, Molitor was straightforward. “We just have to play better.” Easier said than done around these parts as the defensive blunders are more of the same for the Twins. Sunday’s matinee in Chicago featured several routine plays fall that general manager Terry Ryan called out during his pregame media session. “We gave them way too many outs. Ironically they didn’t come back and hurt us, the three misses,” Ryan said of Eduardo Nunez, Eduardo Escobar and Kurt Suzuki’s inability to catch pop flies. True, Sunday’s White Sox game mistakes did not hurt but the Royals took their ounce of flesh like good teams do. Continuing the trend of giving away outs -- either because of fielding miscues or because of inferior coverage -- will be painful. The Twins entered Monday’s game as one of the worst teams at turning batted balls into outs. Only the Yankees and the Dodgers have converted fewer balls into outs. Based on a seven game sample, this team has a lot of repairs to make before it will be able to win games consistently. As far as the home opener goes, at least the weather was good. Click here to view the article