Looking for a way to get right-handed reliever Griffin Jax back on track, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash is starting him against the team that traded him last summer, the visiting Minnesota Twins, in their series finale on Sunday.

Jax was one of the American League’s top setup relievers when he was obtained on July 31 for starter Taj Bradley. But Jax is off to a slow start this season (1-2, 8.00 ERA), allowing six earned runs in seven innings pitched in April, and has allowed at least one earned run in two of his last three appearances.

It will be the second time Jax has faced his old team. He pitched two shutout innings of relief in a 4-1 win over the Twins in Minneapolis on April 5, allowing two hits and a walk.

Right-hander Jesse Scholtens (1-1, 2.93) will handle the bulk role as the Rays go for the series sweep and their fourth straight win.

Scholtens is 0-3 with a 9.64 ERA in three career appearances (one start) against Minnesota, all of which came in the 2023 season with a Chicago White Sox team that lost 101 games.

Scholtens made the start in a 6-1 loss to Cincinnati on Monday and allowed five runs, including a two-run homer to Sal Stewart in the first inning, on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out six and didn’t walk a batter.

The Twins, who have lost four straight games and eight of their last nine, will start right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson (0-3, 5.96), who is 0-0 with a 3.31 ERA in three career starts against the Rays.

Woods Richardson will try and cool down a Tampa Bay offense that has hit five home runs in the first two games of the series, all of which have traveled more than 400 feet.

Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda both belted two home runs in Friday’s 6-2 victory, with one of Caminero’s landing over the batter’s eye in center field and measuring a career-long 450 feet.

Jake Fraley hit a two-run shot 401 feet to right-center off Bailey Ober in the fourth inning to highlight Saturday’s 6-1 victory.

“This lineup is dynamic,” Fraley said. “If we’re having trouble driving the baseball, we’re able to lean on ‘small ball’ a little bit. We’ve got a lot of guys in the lineup that are able to do it well. And then these last two games, we were able to put it in the stands.”

Left-hander Shane McClanahan, who has missed the last two seasons due to Tommy John and left triceps surgeries, picked up his first win at Tropicana Field since 2023, allowing three hits and striking out seven over five shutout innings.

“I was happy for him,” Cash said of the two-time All-Star. “Want to see that continue to build. We all know how special Shane can be in our rotation, and he’s working hard to get to that point. Today was another good step for him.”

The Twins, who have been outscored 25-13 in their last four games, wasted a quality start by Ober, who allowed two runs on three hits over six innings. Reliever Taylor Rogers was roughed up for three runs in the seventh without registering an out. Jonny DeLuca greeted him with a leadoff pinch-hit double into the left field corner and Ben Williamson followed with an RBI triple to the wall in left-center. Rogers then walked Cedric Mullins with a pitch to end his appearance.

Minnesota batters were just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Royce Lewis broke up the shutout with two outs in the ninth with a bloop single to center, driving in Luke Keaschall, who had been hit by a pitch.

“We’re not worried about this group,” catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “It’s the ebbs and flows of baseball.”

Despite the recent rough stretch, the Twins are third in the American League Central, just 2 1/2 games behind the first place Cleveland Guardians.

–Field Level Media

It’s fair to call the Cincinnati Reds the surprise team of the National League a month into the season. After entering the year without an abundance of household names, the Reds are tied for second in the majors with 18 wins.

Cincinnati will search for its 10th win in 12 tries on Sunday afternoon in the series finale against the visiting Detroit Tigers.

Despite a major-league-worst .213 batting average, the Reds have scored nine runs apiece in back-to-back wins over the Tigers and are averaging 7.3 runs across their last six outings. At .303, Sal Stewart is the only Cincinnati player hitting .300 or better.

Instead of a flashy centerpiece, the Reds have tried to break down the opposing pitching staff using 1-9 in the batting order.

“When you get this group of guys with the character we have and the way we play the game, good things will happen,” Reds second baseman Matt McLain said. “We play the game hard every single day.”

Stewart and TJ Friedl each had three hits and a homer in the Reds’ 9-2 series-clinching win on Saturday.

On the mound for the upstart club, Rhett Lowder (3-1, 3.10 ERA) will look to continue his impressive start to the year. After missing all of last season with multiple injuries, Lowder leads the Reds with three wins. The 24-year-old right-hander has won consecutive starts, and he allowed just one run across six innings in a 6-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.

“He gave us six innings — that was really impressive,” Cincinnati manager Terry Francona said. “He just started to throw the ball more where he wanted to.”

Lowder, selected seventh overall pick in the 2023 draft out of Wake Forest, is slated to make just the 12th start of his career and first against the Tigers.

Detroit entered the interleague set winners in 10 of its previous 13 but has seen its pitching staff falter in a pair of games at Great American Ball Park. After falling on Nathaniel Lowe’s walk-off homer to lose 9-8 on Friday, the Tigers got just two innings out of starting pitcher Jack Flaherty in Game 2.

Manager A.J. Hinch and company will seek to fare much better in the early innings on Sunday in hopes of salvaging the series.

“(Cincinnati) put the ball in play twice in the first inning and scored four runs,” Hinch said. “That’s pretty much the tone that was set. It was rough to recover from.”

Keider Montero (1-2, 3.68 ERA) will make his fifth start of the year for Detroit. Montero, 25, will appear on the road for the first time this season. Last time out, he yielded three earned runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings Tuesday in a 12-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Montero has faced the Reds once, throwing five innings of two-run ball in an 11-5 win on June 13, 2025.

At the plate, Spencer Torkelson has homered in four straight games, becoming the first Detroit player to accomplish the feat since Ian Kinsler in May 2016. Torkelson can match the franchise record of five shared by multiple Tigers, most recently Marcus Thames in June 2008.

–Field Level Media

Washington Nationals shortstop Nasim Nunez delivered two hits, four RBIs and a stolen base during Saturday’s 6-3, 10-inning victory against the host Chicago White Sox.

Nunez acknowledged he was aiming to emulate one of his favorite players, current New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor — a path that might serve Nunez well again Sunday afternoon when Washington meets Chicago in the rubber game of a three-game set.

“Honestly, I was just like, ‘Let’s be nasty,'” Nunez said. “I told my parents before the game I was trying to channel my 2018 Lindor (then with Cleveland). I model my game after him, so I was watching some highlights and stuff. I just channeled that and just went out there to be.”

Washington evened the series behind an opportunistic attack. Automatic runner James Wood scored the go-ahead run in the 10th on a passed ball.

Nunez hit two-run singles in the fourth and 10th, and Keibert Ruiz doubled for the Nationals’ lone extra-base hit of the game.

Miguel Vargas doubled for the White Sox, who out-hit the Nationals 7-6 one night after out-hitting them 8-6 to key a 5-4 victory.

“It’s working, just putting the foot on the gas at all times,” Chicago rookie infielder-outfielder Sam Antonacci said.

The White Sox will try to rev their offense on Sunday against Nationals left-hander Foster Griffin (3-0, 3.38 ERA), who will oppose Chicago southpaw Bryan Hudson (0-0, 1.54).

Griffin is set to make his first career appearance against the White Sox. He pitched in seven games for Kansas City and Toronto over 2020 and 2022 but most recently competed in Japan.

Griffin defeated the Atlanta Braves 11-4 on Tuesday behind his first quality start, scattering five hits for three runs in six innings with one walk and three strikeouts.

“We hadn’t seen him before; that’s always a challenge,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “He’s got a lot of pitches. He’ll throw the kitchen sink at you. When you do that and you throw strikes with it, it makes it tough on the hitter, because you’re not sure what you’re going to get.

“He really showed an ability to pitch, and with a lot of different offerings.”

Hudson will serve as the opener for Chicago, as he did Friday night, when he worked around a hit and walk to notch a scoreless first inning.

Right-hander Sean Burke (1-2, 4.10 ERA) is expected to follow in bulk relief. Burke took a no-decision at Washington on Sept. 27, 2025, allowing two runs — on a Daylen Lile home run — and two hits in 4 1/3 innings with one walk and 10 strikeouts.

Burke has pitched to a 3.63 ERA in four April appearances, including three starts. He’s coming off Tuesday’s 11-5 victory in Arizona, when he spaced two runs and five hits in six innings with one walk and three strikeouts.

White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami is 1-for-8 with a solo home run and four strikeouts to begin the series.

Murakami has homered in six of his past eight games, but the 26-year-old rookie has four multi-strikeout games over the same span. He shares the major league lead of 11 home runs with Houston’s Yordan Alvarez.

–Field Level Media