That's The Ticket: Battle For First Place

Series Overview

The Twins have played pretty evenly with the Royals this year, winning three of six contests. It's fun to watch these teams match up because they have fairly similar profiles: productive offenses without a ton of power and solid pitching staffs without a clearly defined ace.

The Twins enter the series with a one-game lead in the Central.

Running Low

Interestingly, while KC's World Series run last year was heavily driven by speed and aggressiveness on the base paths, the Royals have stolen only 30 bases this season, ranking them ninth in the AL. That should make life a little easier for Kurt Suzuki.

No Lights Needed?

We're coming up on the longest day of the year, and each game in this series starts at 7:10 PM, so it's possible there will still be traces of sunlight as you walk out of the park after the final out. These are the types of evenings that summer outdoor baseball is all about.

Kendrys Rebound

Monday marks the one-year anniversary of the Twins signing Kendrys Morales, who sat out the first two months in 2014 before finally inking a one-year deal with Minnesota. Morales was terrible – first for the Twins and then for the Mariners – so many were surprised to see him get a two-year, $17 million deal from Kansas City during the offseason.

Joke's on us, I guess.

The DH has re-emerged in a big way in Kansas City, hitting .294/.356/.468 with six homers and 38 RBI through 53 games. He ranks third in the American League with 17 doubles.

Meanwhile, the Twins have gotten lousy production from the DH spot, but they're trying to address that with their own Silent S. Kennys Vargas was recalled on Sunday after hitting .308 in 16 games at Triple-A. He's expected to be in the lineup on Monday night.

Pitching Match-Ups

Monday, 7:10 PM: Jason Vargas vs. Phil Hughes

Hughes has once again been stingy with the walks this year, but he's been far from stingy with hits; he's allowed the most of any pitcher in the AL (86). The Royals lead the league in batting average, so this could be a tough one.

Fortunately, Vargas is quite beatable. The southpaw has a 4.79 ERA and the Twins have been significantly better against lefties (730 OPS) than righties (662).

Forecast (courtesy Weather.com): Partly cloudy, high of 82

Tuesday, 7:10 PM: Chris Young vs. Trevor May

May is coming off his best outing as a big-leaguer – seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts against the Red Sox at Fenway. He has completed at least six frames in each of his last four starts and has walked only one batter total during that span. Hard to believe it's the same guy that couldn't throw a strike to save his life in his MLB debut last August.

Young ain't so young anymore, but the sky-scraping 36-year-old has been very effective over 12 appearances for the Royals with a 2.56 ERA and 0.99 WHIP. As an extreme fly ball pitcher who doesn't get many strikeouts, his success has seemed a little fluky, and he may be amidst some regression. He's lost both of his last two starts, allowing 10 runs in 11 innings.

Forecast: Mostly sunny, high of 90

Wednesday, 7:10 PM: Edinson Volquez vs. Kyle Gibson

Volquez has been Kansas City's best starter, with a 2.95 ERA in 10 starts. He faced the Twins twice in April and performed very well both times, allowing four runs over 14 2/3 innings. He has allowed more than three runs only once in his 10 starts.

Gibson is coming off a month of May in which he went 3-1 with a 1.36 ERA, but gave up three homers against the Brewers in his first June start.

Forecast: Mostly sunny, high of 83