Frazier, Hamilton look to stay hot vs. Minnesota
The Minnesota Twins have been unable to string together much success over the past month, and it continued in their series opener with the Cincinnati Reds.
They can finally right the ship Tuesday night behind their hottest pitcher, Phil Hughes.
Few pitchers have been better in recent weeks than Hughes (6-6, 4.20 ERA), who has posted a quality start in four straight outings and has allowed one run in eight innings in each of his last two.
The right-hander yielded only eight total hits without any walks over those two starts for a 1.13 ERA after struggling to a 4.96 ERA through his first 11 appearances.
"I hope this momentum carries over and I start rolling again," Hughes told MLB's official website. "It was obviously a tough start to my year, but there's a lot of games ahead of us. We've done a lot good things, and I want to be there at the end and be a good starter for us."
Hughes has been one of the few positives for Minnesota (40-36), which has fallen from first place in the AL Central at the end of May to a 10-17 record in June. The Twins lost again Monday, 11-7 to the Reds (35-40).
Cincinnati's Eugenio Suarez led the way with three hits and three RBIs, while Tucker Barnhart went 4 for 5 and Jay Bruce hit two doubles. The Reds scored only four runs while being swept by the New York Mets over the weekend.
Todd Frazier also contributed his 54th RBI. Frazier, who has driven in 15 runs in his last 12 games, hopes his continued excellence can vault him into the NL All-Star starting lineup.
"I want to be the starter, I want to be that guy," Frazier said. "I want to be the guy who represents Cincinnati and runs out onto the field at third base, see the fans all pumped up."
The Reds will try to win the series with Anthony DeSclafani (5-5, 3.35). The right-hander has been solid with a 2.66 ERA in his last four starts, and surrendered four runs - one earned - while not factoring into the decision of a 5-4 win against Pittsburgh on Thursday.
The majority of DeSclafani's success, however, has come on the road, where he has a 2.45 ERA. He's been far worse at Great American Ballpark, touting a 4.58 ERA while allowing opposing batters an .824 OPS.
DeSclafani has yet to face the Twins, who have averaged 4.8 runs during their road trip despite losing three of four. Brian Dozier and Torii Hunter have combined for five home runs and eight RBIs in that span, while Trevor Plouffe is hitting .333 with a homer.
Dozer hit his 16th homer during Minnesota's six-run fourth inning Monday, but the Twins went hitless the rest of the way.
Billy Hamilton scored three runs had four stolen bases in the win. He now has eight multi-steal games this season and leads MLB with 40.
The Reds are 15-10 when Hamilton swipes at least one base. He's batting .298 with an on-base percentage of .382 in those games, but hitting .181 with a .200 OBP when he fails to record a steal.
