TLDR: Minnesota's clinging to a wild-card spot and coming off back-to-back walk-off losses in Seattle. A trip to Kansas City to face a Royals team on a 4-game skid is exactly the get-right spot the Twins need.
−Missing Pasquantino, Garcia, and multiple rotation arms
Joe Ryan carries the Twins' faint wild-card hopes into Kauffman Stadium at 6:40 PM CT, and lately that's meant white-knuckle innings. He's gone 1-4 with a 4.91 ERA over his last six turns through the rotation, including an 0-2, 5.79 ERA line against the Royals specifically this year. He gets a rematch with Randy Dobnak, who beat Minnesota just last time out and has quietly become the least likely story in the AL Central.
Joe Ryan
(6-8)·3.65 ERA
Jul 29 vs Royals
L
6.0IP
4ER
4K
0BB
93P
08/04 Lineup
Randy Dobnak
(2-1)·1.73 ERA
Jul 29 @ Twins
W
7.0IP
0ER
4K
1BB
101P
08/04 Lineup
Bobby Witt Jr. is expected back in the Kansas City lineup after missing 12 games with lower back tightness, exactly the jolt a 46-67 club needs after getting outscored 27-11 during its 4-game skid. Dobnak, for his part, has allowed just 1 homer and 11 other hits across 16.1 innings since his July 2 debut with the Royals — a stretch that includes 7 shutout innings against his old team. The market still leans Minnesota to get this one back on track, even with Kansas City catching a break at shortstop.
That's the tension here: a Twins team that's dropped 2 straight walk-offs in Seattle and can't find a healthy rotation arm to save its life, against a Royals team that's been broadly worse all season but has stumbled onto its best version of Dobnak right as it gets its best player back. Royce Lewis is riding an 8-game hitting streak, batting .300 with 2 home runs and 7 RBIs, exactly the kind of bat Minnesota's lineup needs while injuries pile up everywhere else.
Both front offices spent the trade deadline patching holes. Minnesota added Dean Kremer, A.J. Minter and Jeff Hoffman to a pitching staff that desperately needed the depth, while Kansas City has just kept absorbing attrition up and down its own roster. Whoever wins the middle innings tonight probably wins the series.
Two teams heading in opposite directions in the standings are meeting at a strange midpoint: the Twins still have a race to save, the Royals are mostly playing out the string with some pride on the line. Dobnak taking the mound against his old club again is reason enough to watch.
Twins 2, Royals 8: Final Score & Odds Recap — Twins Chase a Wild-Card Save Against Reeling Royals
