Seattle enters the matchup as losers of their last three gam

Minnesota Twins (30-15 Wade Davis Jersey , first in the AL Central) vs. Seattle Mariners (22-26, fifth in the AL West)Seattle; Sunday, 4 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Twins: Kyle Gibson (4-1, 4.26 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 45 strikeouts) Mariners: Yusei Kikuchi (4-1, 3.64 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 43 strikeouts)Article continues below ...LINE: Twins favored by 1 1/2 runs; over/under is 8 1/2 runsBOTTOM LINE: es.The Mariners are 9-14 on their home turf. Seattle has slugged .457, good for third in the American League. Daniel Vogelbach leads the team with a .603 slugging percentage, including 19 extra-base hits and 12 home runs.The Twins are 15-7 on the road. Minnesota has slugged .511, the highest in the American League. Jorge Polanco leads the club with a .600 slugging percentage, including 25 extra-base hits and eight home runs. The Twins won the last meeting 18-4. Tyler Duffey earned his first victory and Jonathan Schoop went 3-for-5 with two home runs and five RBIs for Minnesota. Wade LeBlanc took his first loss for Seattle.TOP PERFORMERS: Domingo Santana leads the Mariners with 37 RBIs and is batting .269. Vogelbach is 5-for-30 with a double http://www.rockiesfanproshop.com/authentic-chad-bettis-jersey , three home runs and nine RBIs over the last 10 games for Seattle.Polanco leads the Twins with 25 extra base hits and is slugging .600. C.J. Cron is 15-for-41 with two doubles, five home runs and 10 RBIs over the last 10 games for Minnesota.LAST 10 GAMES: Mariners: 3-7, .213 batting average, 7.66 ERA, outscored by 42 runsTwins: 7-3, .300 batting average, 3.90 ERA, outscored opponents by 33 runsMariners Injuries: Sam Tuivailala: 10-day IL (achilles), Hunter Strickland: 60-day IL (lat), Felix Hernandez: 10-day IL (shoulder), Gerson Bautista: 10-day IL (pectoral), Kyle Seager: 60-day IL (hand), Dylan Moore: 10-day IL (wrist).Twins Injuries: Adalberto Mejia: 10-day IL (calf) Adam Ottavino Jersey , Nelson Cruz: 10-day IL (wrist), Mitch Garver: 10-day IL (ankle). ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals will open with their surprise 2018 aces as they begin an important three-game series for both teams on Monday night.Miles Mikolas (15-4, 2.99 ERA) will start for the visiting Cardinals, with fellow right-hander Mike Foltynewicz (11-9, 2.66) getting the call for the National League East-leading Braves at SunTrust Park.Although the Braves (83-66) lost two of three weekend games to the Washington Nationals to open their final 10-game homestand of the season, they still lead the Philadelphia Phillies by 6 1/2 games and the Nationals by 7 1/2 with two weeks to play.Article continues below ...The Cardinals (82-68) trail the first-place Chicago Cubs by 5 1/2 games in the NL Central but are tied for the last wild-card spot after salvaging the finale of a four-game home series with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night.Atlanta, which has a magic number of eight to win the NL East, swept a three-game series in St. Louis on June 29-July 1, outscoring the Cardinals 22-10.That was before Mike Shildt replaced Mike Matheny as St. Louis manager, though, and the Braves also have played much better on the road than at home all season.The Braves have a 45-30 road record — best in the NL — but are just 38-36 at home after 12 losses in their past 16 games in Atlanta.The Cardinals have the third-best road record at 42-33 and are 35-22 overall since Shildt took over July 15.Foltynewicz comes into the St. Louis series off a complete-game victory at San Francisco in his most recent start. The Braves need a quality outing after Julio Teheran lasted just four innings and Sean Newcomb three in losses to the Nationals that followed a six-game winning streak.“It was the best I’ve felt all season,” Foltynewicz said after allowing a run and six hits against the Giants while striking out seven and walking just one. “It was a big win for us. That whole trip was huge.”Now Foltynewicz needs a comparable follow-up back in Atlanta.“I’m learning how to pitch in September,” said Foltynewicz Pat Valaika Jersey , who made the All-Star Game for the first time this year. “When you’re in the middle of a playoff race, every inning counts so much.”Pitching in September pressure with the Cardinals is new as well for Mikolas, who spent the last three seasons in Japan.Mikolas, though, allowed just one run in seven innings of his most recent start to beat Pittsburgh and become the first pitcher to win as many as 15 games in his first season with St. Louis since Mark Mulder in 2003.“This is crunch time,” Mikolas said. “This is time to kind of dig deep… leave it all out there and use everything you’ve got.”Mikolas took the loss against the Braves in the opener of the series at St. Louis but deserved a better fate. He allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings.Foltynewicz won the final game of the series, allowing just one hit in five scoreless innings while striking out nine and walking three.Foltynewicz, who has 186 strikeouts in 166 innings this season, hadn’t fared well against the Cardinals before this season, though. He is 2-2 with a 7.13 ERA lifetime, working just 17 2/3 innings in four career starts.