Up-and-down Pirates visit Twins, seek to end skid

The Pittsburgh Pirates might want to avoid the Mall of America during their visit to Minnesota.

They've experienced enough roller-coaster rides as of late.

After winning six games in a row at home, the Pirates have lost six games in a row on the road. They will try to snap that skid when they play the Twins to start a three-game series Friday night in Minneapolis.

Pirates manager Don Kelly wants his players to keep the faith.

"Winning six in a row at home and then coming on the road and losing six, it's tough when you're going through that," Kelly said. "Can't get too high when we win six, and we have to find a way to stay with it and continue to fight."

It should help the Pirates to have their top pitcher on the mound, as All-Star right-hander Paul Skenes (4-7, 1.94 ERA) is set to make his 20th start of the season. The 23-year-old is five strikeouts shy of 300 in his brief career.

Skenes has not allowed a run in his past two starts, against the St. Louis Cardinals and Seattle Mariners. He has given up 10 hits, walked one and struck out 15 in 10 innings during that span.

This will be Skenes' first career appearance against the Twins. In 10 interleague starts, he is 3-2 with a 1.65 ERA and has walked 16 and struck out 69 in 60 innings.

The Twins will counter with their own All-Star right-hander, Joe Ryan, who is 8-4 with a 2.76 ERA. Ryan recently learned he will head to next week's All-Star Game in Atlanta, replacing Houston's Hunter Brown, who won't be able to participate after pitching this Sunday against Texas.

Ryan, in his last outing, drew a no-decision after allowing two runs on six hits in six innings in his team's 7-5, 10-inning loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. He has three quality starts in a row and is 0-1 with a 2.57 ERA in one career start against Pittsburgh.

The Twins will try to finish the first half with three series victories in a row. They took two of three games against Tampa Bay before beating the Chicago Cubs in two of three games.

Minnesota fell short in its bid to sweep the Cubs on Thursday afternoon. The Twins lost 8-1 in a game that All-Star outfielder Byron Buxton sat out because of a bruised left hand.

One game earlier, Buxton was hit on the left pinky finger by a pitch. Although testing did not show a significant injury, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli gave him the day off Thursday to recover.

It's uncertain whether Buxton, another All-Star, will return to the lineup for the series opener against the Pirates.

"He's doing fine," Baldelli said. "He's definitely sore, and for the same reasons he came out of the game (Wednesday), he's not starting the game (Thursday). We're just going to continue to evaluate him and get him treatment. We were just going to get him a day (off) and see if we can get him ready for (Friday)."

Buxton is hitting .270 with 20 home runs, 53 RBIs and 17 stolen bases in 75 games this season.

--Field Level Media