Greetings and happy Fourth of July from Target Field! It’s overcast and warm as the Twins prepare to take on the Los Angeles Angels in game two of a three-game set. The Twins beat old friend Alex Meyer and the Angels 9-5 on Monday night to open the series and improve to 42-40 on the season.

The Royals also won on Monday night, so the teams remain deadlocked for second place -- 2.5 games behind division-leading Cleveland. Also of note: the Angels sent Meyer to Triple-A prior to Tuesday’s game. According to Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times, it’ll likely be an extended demotion. Not only does Los Angeles not need Meyer with the All-Star break looming, but with a number of off days scheduled over the next few weeks, he’ll get some work in down on the farm. Moura tweeted that the Angels don’t need a fifth starter again until July 29.

As for Tuesday’s game, it’ll be righty Kyle Gibson going for the Twins against J.C. Ramirez for the Angels. More on that in a second.

Brian Dozier remains out of the lineup for a second straight day with back soreness. Dozier texted manager Paul Molitor Tuesday morning to say that he could play, but the skipper wanted to err on the side of caution with such a quick turnaround from Monday, when he could barely swing at all. The expectation is that Dozier will return to the lineup in a full capacity in Wednesday’s series finale.

Dozier is available off the bench, he said.

As a brief injury update, Molitor also said that left-handed pitcher Glen Perkins is still just playing catch as he works back from biceps tendinitis which has waylaid his comeback from shoulder surgery. He remains without a timeline.

Here’s how the Twins will line up against the Angels:

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