The Twins will be in first place in the American League Central at the All-Star break, but the question is, by how many games?
Sonny Gray is on the mound for the Twins against the Chicago White Sox tonight (6:40, BSN) at Target Field. The righthander is 4-2 with a 3.03 ERA, and he'll face veteran righty Johnny Cueto (3-4, 2.91).
The 36-year-old Cueto, a former All-Star, signed a minor league contract with the Sox in April and worked his way up to the majors, where he has started 339 games in 15 seasons.
The Twins are 4½ games ahead of second-place Cleveland and five ahead of the White Sox entering the four-game series against the South Siders. All three teams have four games remaining before the break.
Cleveland is playing host to Detroit in a four-game series over the weekend. The White Sox and Guardians just finished splitting a four-game series, while the Twins split a pair with the Brewers, winning 4-1 on Jose Miranda's walkoff three-run home run Wednesday.
Luis Arraez is back in the Twins lineup at first base, batting ahead of Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton.
The Twins, by the way, promoted Forest Lake's Matt Wallner to the Saints on Thursday. Wallner, an outfielder who had been playing at Class AA Wichita, and Saints infielder Spencer Steer will be in Los Angeles on Saturday for the Major League Futures Game at Dodger Stadium.
WHITE SOX LINEUP
Tim Anderson, SS
Yoan Moncada, 3B
Luis Robert, CF
Jose Abreu, 1B
Gavin Sheets, RF
Andrew Vaughn, DH
AJ Pollock, LF
Josh Harrison, 2B
Seby Zavala, C
TWINS LINEUP
Luis Arraez, 1B
Carlos Correa, SS
Byron Buxton, CF
Max Kepler, RF
Jorge Polanco, 2B
Alex Kirilloff, LF
Jose Miranda, DH
Gio Urshela, 3B
Ryan Jeffers, C