The Twins believe Jose Berrios has solved his August recession and is ready to dominate again, just in time for October. But one more confirmation wouldn't be bad, either.
Berrios, whose ERA was 2.80 on Aug. 1 and then 8.07 over his next six starts, has bounced back with two runs over his last 14 1/3 innings. He'll make his final Target Field start tonight at 6:10, taking on a Royals team that hasn't scored more than three runs in a start against him since 2017.
"I can't point to one particular thing," admitted Twins manager Rocco Baldelli. "He looks like a tremendous version of himself. He's looked as good recently as I've ever seen him. Stuff's way up, the command's up, the execution has been very good."
Berrios is 7-4 at home this season, so he can't eclipse last season's 9-4 performance at Target Field. But he'd like to cut the Twins' magic number, which currently stands at five.
Here are the lineups for tonight's game:
ROYALS
Merrifield 2B
Mondesi SS
Soler DH
Dozier 3B
Gordon LF
McBroom RF
O'Hearn 1B
Viloria C
Phillips CF
Sparkman RHP
TWINS
Arraez 2B
Polanco SS
Cruz DH
Rosario LF
Sano 3B
Gonzalez 1B
Cave RF
Castro C
Wade Jr. CF
Berrios RHP
