Minnesota Twins at Chicago Cubs

· Major League Baseball

Minnesota Twins

63-48, 31-27 Away

Final
3 - 0

Chicago Cubs

55-60, 30-27 Home

Festa strikes out career-high 9, Twins beat Cubs 3-0 and close within 3 1/2 games of Guardians

Minnesota drew within 3 1/2 games of AL Central-leading Cleveland, the closest the Twins have been to first place since before play on May 18.

Making his fifth big league start since his debut on June 27, Festa (2-2) allowed two hits and two walks while throwing 82 pitches, one more than the previous high for the 24-year-old right-hander.

“It really just comes down to execution,” Festa said. “I thought I didn’t execute enough important pitches in the first couple outings. There’s been guys on, but I’ve made that important pitch, and I’m just happy about that.”

Festa emphasized the importance of staying in command through the second and third times through the batting order.

“Another really good outing from him in a packed stadium, in a place with a lot of emotion. He was able to slow it down really good,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Came out really sharp. He missed a bunch of bats today. He had a lot of different things working, and then towards the end of the outing, he held it together really well.”

Caleb Thielbar, Jorge Alcala, Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax finished a four-hitter, with Jax getting three outs for his eighth save in 12 chances.

Royce Lewis hit a third-inning sacrifice fly and Manuel Margot homered in the fifth off Kyle Hendricks (3-10), who allowed five hits in six innings. Ryan Jeffers grounded into a run-scoring double play in the ninth.

Matt Wallner followed Lewis’ fly in the third with a drive that center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong lost in the twilight. Right fielder Mike Tauchman couldn’t react quickly enough and the ball fell on the warning track. Trevor Larnach tried to score from first base on what was scored a double, but Crow-Armstrong threw to shortstop Dansby Swanson, whose one-hop relay to catcher Miguel Amaya was in time for the tag.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins: LHP Steven Okert was placed on the bereavement list on Monday and RHP Josh Winder was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul.

Cubs: RF Seiya Suzuki sat out with neck soreness but is expected by manager Craig Counsell to return to the lineup Tuesday. Cody Bellinger has been Chicago’s DH since returning from a fractured left middle finger last week, but Counsell said that he’s still been struggling when he tries to “make throws with intent.” Bellinger will not play in the field during the Cubs’ series against the Twins. ... RHP Adbert Alzolay is scheduled to undergo right forearm surgery on Tuesday.

Twins RHP Pablo López (10-7, 4.65) starts Tuesday seeking his third consecutive winning decision. LHP Shota Imanaga (8-2, 3.09) starts for the Cubs with three straight no-decisions following a July 10 win at Baltimore.

How can I watch Minnesota Twins vs. Chicago Cubs?

TV Channel: Twins at Cubs 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on Bally Sports North.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Cubs: 46.5%

Twins: 53.5%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Hoerner grounded out to first.
	9th Inning	Tauchman struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Bellinger singled to left.
	9th Inning	Paredes grounded out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	Jax relieved Duran
	9th Inning	Santana struck out swinging.

Statistics

MIN		CHC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
11	Ground Balls	8
9	Strikeouts	14
2	Runs Batted In	0
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
8	Hits	4
1	Stolen Bases	0
1	Walks	2
0	Catcher Interference	0
3	Runs	0
1	Ground Into Double Play	0
1	Sacrifice Flies	0
32	At Bats	31
1	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
5	Runners Left On Base	9
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
3	Doubles	2
13	Fly Balls	9
0	Caught Stealing	0
122	Pitches	134
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
14	Total Bases	6
34	Plate Appearances	33
162.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
4	Extra Base Hits	2
3.7	Runs Created	0.4
.250	Batting Average	.129
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.438	Slugging Percentage	.194
.250	Secondary Average	.129
.265	On Base Percentage	.182
.702	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.375
0.8	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.9
3.8	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	0.4
28.0	Batter Rating	8.0
32.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
1.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.59	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.06
.188	Isolated Power	.065
0.11	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.14
.029	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.061
.000	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.000
5.0	Runs Produced	0.0
0.7	Runs Ratio	0.0
0.5	Patience Ratio	0.2
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.2
78.5	MLB Rating	59.3
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0