Guardians get another shot at AL Central lead with 5-game series against Twins

I’ve run out of ways to hype up the importance of this Guardians-Twins matchup. If you don’t know already, you never will. The AL Central won’t be decided over the next four days, but the series could set the tone for each team’s playoffs aspirations early on. But you know the deal — the Twins are pretty good, the Guardians are pretty good and they both play in the same division.

Both teams are 5-5 over their last 10 games, but that doesn’t paint the whole picture. Cleveland is coming off four-straight losses, including a loss to these very Twins in their last series. They also suffered a demoralizing sweep at the hands of the Red Sox, who outscored them 18-8. Minnesota, on the other hand, has won three of their last four, including a 6-0 domination of the Rockies on Saturday.

The Twins remained a very banged-up team, but they’ll have their All-Star centerfielder Byron Buxton this whole series. Buxton, who only played one game against Cleveland last time around, went 3-for-4 and a home run shy of a cycle in Minnesota’s Sunday win over the Rockies. He has shown tremendous power this season with a .589 slugging percentage and tying a career-high with 19 home runs. That power has helped him maintain a 155 wRC+, despite getting on base just 32% of the time.

Team at a glance

• Record: 41-33 (6th in AL)
• Runs Scored: 328 (4th in AL)
• Run Differential: +32 (4th in AL)
• Last 10: 5-5
• Slash: .251/.323/.410
• wOBA: .322 (4th in AL)
• wRC+: 111 (4th in AL)
• ERA: 3.78 (7th in AL)
• SIERA: 3.92 (8th in AL)
• K-BB%: 14.2% (8th in AL)

Projected starters

Monday, June 27, 7:10 p.m. ET: RHP Sonny Gray vs. RHP Triston McKenzie
Tuesday, June 28, 1:10 p.m. ET: TBD vs. RHP Zach Plesac
Tuesday, June 28, 7:10 p.m. ET: TBD vs. TBD
Wednesday, June 29, 7:10 p.m. ET: RHP Dylan Bundy vs. RHP Cal Quantrill
Thursday, June 30, 1:10 p.m. ET: RHP Chris Archer vs. RHP Shane Bieber

Roster

• 40-man roster
• Depth chart