Twins hope return home to face White Sox will reverse fortunes

The Minnesota Twins hope that a return home can cure what ails them.

Minnesota is coming off getting swept in a three-game road series against the Atlanta Braves. The Twins have lost 15 of 22 games to start the season, and their biggest challenge has been at the plate.

Now the Twins travel back to Minneapolis to open a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox that starts Tuesday evening.

Minnesota hopes to hit reset on a start that has been anything but invigorating.

"That was rough," Twins infielder Brooks Lee said of the Atlanta series. "You see our team, we're not hitting like we know we can, and even when things do get strung together, we're not capitalizing."

With 17 losses in 22 games, the White Sox are one of only two major league teams with a worse record than the Twins. The other is the Colorado Rockies, who are 4-17.

Chicago is coming off a 4-2 loss on the road against the Boston Red Sox on Monday. Andrew Benintendi homered, but the White Sox managed only four other hits.

The White Sox have lost seven of their past eight games.

To make matters worse, Chicago must find someone to add to its rotation after losing left-hander Martin Perez to an elbow injury. Perez exited his most recent start on Friday, and on Monday the team transferred him to the 60-day injured list.

White Sox manager Will Venable said it was too soon to project Perez's long-term outlook.

"We know at least 60 days (that he'll be out)," Venable said. "He feels, I think, better than he did after the first day. But (it's) still too early to really speculate on what this timeline is going to be, so we'll see here in the next couple of days what we've got."

Twins right-hander Bailey Ober (1-1, 6.16 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound for his fifth start of the season. The 6-foot-9, 260-pound North Carolina native is looking for his third quality start in a row after posting strong performances against the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets.

Ober has made 13 career starts against the White Sox. He is 5-2 with a 3.60 ERA in those games, with 13 walks and 72 strikeouts in 70 innings.

White Sox right-hander Davis Martin (1-2, 4.84 ERA) also is set to make his fifth start of the season. He is hoping to bounce back from a loss on Thursday, when he allowed four runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings against the Athletics.

Martin, 28, has a career record of 4-13 with a 4.64 ERA. He has pitched against the Twins in three games, including two starts, going 0-2 with an 11.32 ERA in those matchups.

This is the second series between the clubs this season. The Twins took two games out of three from March 31-April 2 in Chicago.

The White Sox won the opening game 9-0 as Andrew Vaughn and Benintendi each hit a three-run homer. The Twins came back to win the second game 8-3 thanks to a five-run sixth inning, and Minnesota took the rubber match 6-1, getting all of its runs in the fourth inning.

--Field Level Media