A four-game series against the worst team in baseball should be the
ideal setting for the Minnesota Twins to make some history.
The Twins can set the major league record for home runs in a season
during the holiday weekend at Detroit’s Comerica Park. They hit
three more on Thursday, including two by outfielder Jake Cave, in a
10-5 win over the Chicago White Sox.
They have 261 entering the weekend, needing seven more to set the
record.
“This is awesome,” Cave said on a postgame TV interview. “Whenever
we do break that record, it’s going to be cool to say regardless of
whatever happens the rest of my career that I was part of the team
that held the record.”
Jake Cave and the Twins start a four game series in Detroit tonight at 6:10 p.m.
Minnesota established the single-season record for most road home
runs (141 and counting) while completing a three-game sweep of the
White Sox. The San Francisco Giants had 138 in 2001.
Cave has provided the power in the last six games, bashing five
home runs. He blasted three against Detroit last weekend in
Minnesota.
“I feel good,” he said. “I’m just trying to keep with my same
routing regardless of what happens outside of the hits. The
strikeouts, I’ve just got to remember that’s going to happen. Just
because you’re hot doesn’t mean you’re going to get a hit every
time.”
The Twins will try to extend their five-game winning streak and at
least maintain their 3 1/2-game lead over Cleveland in the Central
Division on Friday.
Minnesota will start right-hander Kyle Gibson (12-6, 4.49 ERA), who
defeated the Tigers at home on Saturday despite allowing five runs
(four earned) on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings. He fanned eight batters
that day, tying his second-highest strikeout total since the
beginning of June.
He’s 9-9 with a 5.37 ERA in 21 career starts against Detroit.
The Twins overpowered Detroit’s scheduled starter, journeyman
right-hander Edwin Jackson, in the same game Saturday. They scored
six runs on seven hits, including a pair of homers, in five innings
against Jackson en route to that 8-5 victory.
Jackson (3-7, 8.70 ERA) is 2-2 in four starts with Detroit this
month after being recalled from Triple-A Toledo. He’s 1-5 with a
6.33 ERA in 11 career appearances against the Twins, including
seven starts.
The Tigers have lost five straight and got swept at home by
Cleveland in a three-game series this week.
Designated hitter Miguel Cabrera missed the last two games of the
series with a biceps injury. He took swings in the batting cage on
Thursday, but his status for the weekend is questionable.
“It’s sore and stiff,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “So we’ll just
go day-to-day with him.”
The longtime manager of the Twins is in his second season with
Detroit. Overseeing a major rebuilding project has been rough on
Gardenhire, and he’s unsure of his status for next season.
“I have a contract for next year, and if they want me to come back
next year, that’s fine. If they don’t want me to come back next
year, then so be it,” he told reporters. “I’ve been in baseball a
long, long time, and we’re doing everything we can. Next year,
let’s see where we go. Next year, that’s up to Al (Avila, general
manager) and those guys.”