Twins at Brewers
The Minnesota Twins are near the bottom of the majors when it comes to hitting home runs, but they are coming off their most plentiful power display of the season entering Wednesday's game against the host Milwaukee Brewers. The Twins went deep five times in Tuesday's 11-4 home victory over the Brewers and now travel to Milwaukee for two more contests.
Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario belted two homers apiece and Brian Dozier contributed a grand slam as Minnesota won its third straight to pull within 1 1/2 games of the American League's second wild-card spot. Twins All-Star Miguel Sano (hand) returned from a three-game absence and struck out three times while going 1-for-5. Milwaukee is beginning a seven-game homestand after suffering three straight setbacks and sits 1 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central. The Brewers will try to bounce back against the 44-year-old Bartolo Colon, who is coming off a solid effort in which he became the oldest AL pitcher since Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan (45 in 1992) to throw a complete game of nine or more innings.
TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, FSN North (Minnesota), FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Twins RH Bartolo Colon (3-9, 7.32 ERA) vs. Brewers RH Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 0.00)
Colon allowed four runs and nine hits in the victory over Texas that represented the 37th complete game of his career. The performance certainly helped his short-term future as he is 1-1 with a 5.18 ERA in four starts since joining the Twins after being a horrific 2-8 with an 8.14 ERA in 13 starts with Atlanta. Colon, who has posted a 10.80 ERA in two no-decisions against Milwaukee this season, stands 4-3 with a 4.89 ERA in 10 career starts versus the Brewers.
Woodruff is making his second major-league start after not allowing a run in his first. The 24-year-old gave up seven hits and two walks while striking out six over 6 1/3 scoreless innings in his debut against Tampa Bay on Friday. Woodruff went 6-5 with a 4.46 ERA in 15 starts at Triple-A Colorado Springs prior to his recall.
WALK-OFFS
1. Twins 1B Joe Mauer is 5-for-32 over his last 10 games, but Tuesday's single was his 1,918th career hit, breaking a tie with Tony Oliva for third place in franchise history.
2. Milwaukee LF Ryan Braun recorded three hits Tuesday to improve to 8-for-13 over his last three contests but is mired in a 13-game homerless drought.
3. Kepler and Rosario each have drilled three homers and Dozier has hit two during Minnesota's three-game winning streak.