The Cleveland Guardians are the only American League Central team with a winning record, sitting one game over .500 after completing 4-3 road trip against the Athletics and Kansas City Royals.

Following victories in the final two contests at Kansas City, the Guardians are back home to begin a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins on Friday night.

In the opening contest, Cleveland left-hander Parker Messick (3-1, 2.40 ERA) will take on Twins lefty Connor Prielipp (1-0, 3.86) in a battle of rookies.

Messick absorbed his first loss in his latest start, when he gave up four runs in five innings against the Athletics on Sunday. He pitched adequately in defeat, striking out six without a walk, but was done in by allowing three home runs.

“The thing I like to live on is any pitch is the right pitch in the right spot,” said Messick, who is 6-2 with a 2.56 ERA through 14 major league starts. “And the quicker I can control the tempo in the game, the more I can control.”

The burly hurler has faced the Twins once, working 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball in a no-decision last Sept. 19 in Minnesota. Messick is 3-1 with a 2.59 ERA in seven career home appearances and 3-1 with a 2.52 ERA in seven road starts.

He credits Guardians catchers Austin Hedges, Bo Naylor and David Fry with helping him make a smooth transition to this level. Hedges was behind the plate when Messick came within three outs of a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles on April 16.

“Hedgey, he’s the man back there for me,” Messick said. “He’s constantly communicating, sometimes telling me to slow down and sometimes speeding me up when I need it.

“It’s all the guys, really. I’m super blessed to be a young guy on a team with three great catchers.”

Minnesota is midway through a six-game trip, having dropped its final two to the Washington Nationals by a combined 22-7 score to match its low mark of six games under .500.

The Twins’ trip to Washington ended on a very sour note Thursday as starter Simeon Woods Richardson and Anthony Banda combined to hit two batters and walk two more in the fifth inning, leading to three runs and a 7-5 loss.

“We did not play a good baseball game and there are a lot of things we need to improve from it,” Minnesota manager Derek Shelton said. “We can’t hit guys and have free passes. We allowed them to have extra outs, and we can’t do that.”

The Twins went 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position as Brooks Lee drove in two runs and Ryan Jeffers homered and doubled twice, but Shelton also wasn’t pleased with the club’s offense.

Leaving nine runners on base in a two-run game was his primary complaint.

“We had chances, but we gave away outs,” Shelton said. “We had three runners on third base with less than two outs. You have to take advantage of those situations.”

Prielipp, who made his major league debut April 22 against the New York Mets, earned his initial win five days later at home against the Seattle Mariners. He has given up exactly two runs in all three of his starts, totaling 15 strikeouts and five walks over 14 innings.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder is 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two outings against AL foes, but this will be his first appearance against the Guardians.

–Field Level Media

The Detroit Tigers are reeling coming into a weekend series against the host Kansas City Royals that begins on Friday.

The Tigers had a much-needed off day on Thursday after being swept in three games by the visiting Boston Red Sox. Detroit has only won four of its last 12 overall and is without four members of its five-man Opening Day rotation because of injuries or suspension.

Tarik Skubal underwent surgery this week to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow. Casey Mize (adductor strain) and Justin Verlander (hip inflammation) are on the injured list.

Framber Valdez is serving a five-game suspension for hitting Boston’s Trevor Story with a pitch after surrendering back-to-back home runs on Tuesday night.

“You have to go out there and expect to win every game,” said Detroit bench coach George Lombard, who served as acting manager for the Tigers’ 4-0 loss on Wednesday because manager A.J. Hinch was suspended for that game because of the Valdez plunking incident. “That’s the mindset you have to have.

“I remember joking around with some guys, ‘We might do down three runs.’ And … then they tack on one more and we’re down four. And you have to think, ‘This comeback is going to be even better than we thought. We thought we just have to come back from three, now we’ve got to come back from four.’

“So you have to have the mindset that you’re going out there to win.”

Detroit hopes Keider Montero (2-2, 3.48 ERA) can restore the winning feeling on Friday. The right-hander has been effective after being recalled from Triple-A Toledo early in the season.

Montero got the win in his latest start, a 5-1 decision over the visiting Texas Rangers on Saturday. He allowed a run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings with two walks and two strikeouts.

Montero permitted four runs on seven hits in six-plus innings during a no-decision against the visiting Royals on April 16. He did not walk a batter and struck out and five.

In three career starts against Kansas City covering 17 2/3 innings, Montero is 0-1 with a 4.08 ERA.

Kansas City is coming off a four-game home split against the Cleveland Guardians.

The Royals absorbed an 8-5 loss on Thursday, their second straight setback after taking the first two games of the series.

Kansas City pitchers issued eight walks in the series finale.

“You can’t give a team like that, any team, eight walks,” manager Matt Quatraro said.

Bobby Witt Jr. was 4-for-4 with a walk, and he and Vinnie Pasquantino hit back-to-back homers in the seventh inning.

Left-hander Kris Bubic (3-1, 3.32) is the scheduled starter for the Royals on Friday night.

His most recent outing was a 4-1 road win over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. Bubic allowed a run and four hits over seven innings while walking two and striking out seven.

Bubic is quite familiar with the American League Central rival Tigers, having faced them 12 times (nine starts) in his career. He is 2-1 with a 3.05 ERA against Detroit.

Bubic started against Montero and the Tigers on April 16, and he lasted 4 2/3 innings while permitting five runs on six hits and three walks. He struck out three in a no-decision.

–Field Level Media

Hard-throwing right-hander Jacob Misiorowski will look to benefit from the Milwaukee Brewers’ rejuvenated offense against the visiting New York Yankees on Friday in the opener of a three-game series.

Misiorowski (2-2, 2.84 ERA), who left his last start with a right hamstring cramp after 5 1/3 hitless innings, will be opposed by left-hander Max Fried (4-1, 2.39).

The Yankees rallied for a 9-2 victory over Texas on Thursday with a six-run sixth inning to finish their homestand 6-1. Cody Bellinger had three hits to extend his hitting streak to nine games.

Yankees left fielder Jasson Dominguez was carted off after crashing into the wall while making a catch on the first play of Thursday’s game. Dominguez sustained a low-grade left AC sprain in his left shoulder and will be placed on the injured list, the team announced. Concussion tests have been negative.

Milwaukee, which was idle Thursday, won at St. Louis 6-2 on Wednesday behind Andrew Vaughn’s three-run homer. It was his first homer since coming off the injured list.

The Yankees, tied for the best record (26-12) in the majors with the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves, have won 16 of their last 19 games. Bellinger is hitting .471 (16-for-34) over his nine-game streak with seven doubles, two triples, two homers and 14 RBIs. Aaron Judge leads the majors with 15 homers, including three in his last five games.

Fried allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings in his last start, but did not get the decision in an 11-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles. In his two starts prior to that, he did not allow an earned run over a combined 14 innings.

“I was happy with being able to limit and not give up the lead, especially when stuff started kind of going sideways,” Fried said following his last start.

Fried is 3-1 with a 2.84 ERA in six career starts vs. Milwaukee.

The Brewers, whose 24 homers are just one ahead of San Francisco for fewest in the major leagues, have been bolstered by the return of Vaughn and Jackson Chourio.

Chourio, who went on the injured list Opening Day morning with a fractured left hand, is 6-for-9 with three doubles in two games back.

Chourio hit 21 homers with 78 RBIs last season after 21 homers and 79 RBIs as a rookie in 2024. Vaughn, who also went on the IL with a fractured bone in his left hand after playing in the opener, had nine homers and 46 RBIs in 64 games with the Brewers last season after being acquired from the Chicago White Sox.

“He’s done those types of things for us in the past, and it’s great to have him back and in just his second game having that type of impact,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of Vaughn following Wednesday’s game.

Misiorowski was dominant his last time out with eight strikeouts and two walks in a 6-1 win at Washington, retiring the final 12 hitters before cramping. He had 43 pitches of more than 100 mph, third most in the pitch-tracking era.

Misiorowski has 59 strikeouts in 38 innings, an MLB-best 13.97 per nine innings. Opponents are batting .172 against him. He will be facing the Yankees for the first time.

The meeting is the first since the Yankees swept last season’s opening series in New York, outscoring the Brewers 36-14.

–Field Level Media