Twins at Padres
The Minnesota Twins have felt at home on the road for much of the season, although the results over their current eight-game West Coast trek haven't been comforting at all. After squandering leads in every contest, the Twins aim to turn around their fortunes on Tuesday as they continue the road trip with the opener of a two-game interleague series at the San Diego Padres.
Minnesota found itself on the wrong side of a game-ending hit for the third time this trek, dropped to 1-5 on the trip and fell for the sixth time in its last seven overall following Sunday's 6-5 loss in 12 innings to Oakland. "(Sunday's) game kind of mirrored some of the other ones on this trip," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "... What we've been doing too much of is letting these teams hang around." The Twins, who reside five games out of a wild-card spot entering play Monday, take a 3-6 interleague mark into Petco Park to face the Padres, who saw their four-game winning streak halted on Sunday by Andrew McCutchen's three-homer performance in a 7-1 rout by Pittsburgh. Dusty Coleman, who was called up from Triple-A El Paso last week, belted a solo shot for his second homer in three outings while his raising his RBI total to five in his last four contests.
TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX Deportes San Diego
PITCHING MATCHUP: Twins RH Jose Berrios (9-4, 3.76 ERA) vs. Padres RH Jhoulys Chacin (10-7, 4.22)
Berrios sustained his second loss in three outings on Tuesday after allowing four runs in the fourth inning of a 6-2 setback at the Los Angeles Dodgers. "I did notice that I was getting too aggressive and that was making myself open up," the 23-year-old Dominican said. Berrios looks to get back on track as he has permitted two earned runs or fewer in eight of his 14 starts this season.
Chacin improved to 4-0 in his last five starts after yielding two runs on four hits for the second straight outing in Wednesday's 6-3 win over the New York Mets. The 29-year-old Venezuelan has surrendered just two homers in his last six trips to the mound after being taken deep 13 times in his previous 15 contests. Chacin owns an impressive 6-2 mark with a 2.05 ERA in 11 starts at Petco Park.
WALK-OFFS
1. Minnesota traded RHP Brandon Kintzler to Washington on Monday prior to the trade deadline. The closer converted 28-of-32 save opportunities this season.
2. San Diego CF Manuel Margot is 15-for-33 and hit safely in seven of eight contests since returning from paternity leave.
3. Veteran 1B Joe Mauer is expected to play in his 1,677th game in a Twins uniform, moving him past Tony Oliva into fourth place on the team's all-time list.