On a light day for baseball, the Minnesota Twins will look to continue their reversal off an 0-4 start. They’ve won consecutive games where their bats have finally come to life with fourteen combined runs. Houston will be playing their first road series of the season, and Hunter Brown struggled last year against the Twins. He gave up his most hits on the season with twelve and seven runs. Back the Twins.
Really not much more than the Twins in their home opener and pitcher Joe Ryan is usually dependable. Excluding his injury-shortened start on Aug. 7, 2024 at the Cubs, Ryan has pitched 5.0+ innings in 26 straight starts. He was among AL leaders in 2024 in opponents' BA (.208) and walk rate (4.3%), and it was more of the same in his 2025 debut in St. Louis. The Twins went 25-8 against the AL West last season, for what that's worth. Houston's Hunter Brown can dominate but also get really wild.
Hunter Brown is a strikeout pitcher. The Astros need a lift here and I don't see them going easy on this kid, who dominated in the second half last season. He's faced the Twins 4 times and has at least 6 strikeouts in all of those meetings. He is over this in 8 of his last 10 starts dating back to last season. The Twins are averaging 7 Ks/G, so not terrible in that regard so far, but they are also notoriously slow starters.
Altuve went 2-for-5 with a solo home run in Wednesday's 5-4 extra-inning loss to the Blue Jays.
Kremer didn't factor into the decision Wednesday against Kansas City, allowing one run on three hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out two.
Brown didn't factor into the decision in Wednesday's 5-4 extra-inning loss to the Blue Jays, allowing three runs on three hits and two walks over six innings. He struck out eight.
Keaschall is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Royals.
Roden is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Royals.
Manager Derek Shelton said Wednesday that Ryan is scheduled to undergo further evaluation for a lower-body injury, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports.
General manager Dana Brown said Sunday that the Astros are targeting "mid-August, potentially the third week of August" for Matthews' (knee) return from the 10-day injured list, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports.
Smith is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against Toronto.
Paredes is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against Toronto, Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle reports.
Trammell went 1-for-3 with a three-run home run, an additional run scored and a walk in Tuesday's win over the Blue Jays.
