The Minnesota has played only five road games this season, but thus far the Twins pitching staff hasn't minded toiling away from Target Field.
It's certainly a small sample size -- although the Twins' schedule, littered with postponements, is a small sample size in itself; Minnesota has played a league-low 13 games -- the Twins are 3-2 on the road thanks in part to a pitching staff limiting opponents from getting on base.
Minnesota pitchers are holding opposing batters to a .155 average on the road thus far, easily the best mark in the majors. Only two other teams are below .200 -- Boston (.189) and Houston (.199).
| PITCHER | IP | AVG |
| Kyle Gibson | 6 | .000 |
| Trevor Hildenberger | 3.1 | .000 |
| Addison Reed | 4.1 | .077 |
| Jose Berrios | 9 | .100 |
| Ryan Pressly | 2 | .143 |
| Zach Duke | 1.2 | .143 |
| Jake Odorizzi | 10.1 | .184 |
| Lance Lynn | 4 | .200 |
| Taylor Rogers | 1.2 | .400 |
| Gabriel Moya | 1 | .400 |
| Fernando Rodney | 1.2 | .500 |
While limiting opponents to such a low batting average obviously won't be sustainable, Minnesota could continue its success in this weekend's three-game series at Tampa Bay. The Rays, which sport a 5-13 record including just 3-7 at home, are batting just .232 at Tropicana Field and have just one batter on the entire roster hitting over .270 (Mallex Smith, .373).
Other notes:
-- Brian Dozier is third in the major leagues in OPS among leadoff hitters (minimum 50 plate appearances) at .903.
-- Dozier also has a hit in each of Minnesota's 13 games, which the longest active hitting streak in the majors. The last Twins player to have a longer hitting streak from the start of the season was Josh Willingham, who had 1+ hit in each of team's first 15 games in 2012.
-- Joe Mauer leads the majors in on-base percentage (.500), is third in batting average (.364) and fifth in walks per plate appearance (4.67).
-- Jake Odorizzi will be making his first career start versus his former club. Odorizzi (1-0), who was traded by the Rays to Minnesota in February, is the first pitcher to be undefeated in his first three career starts with the Twins since Ervin Santana went 2-0 in his first four starts with the club, July 5-23, 2015.
-- Tampa Bay is tied for last in the American League in extra-base hits (38).
Statistics courtesy STATS and baseball-reference
