First pitch: Friday, 8:10 p.m. ET
Line: Tampa Bay -125, Minnesota +115, Total: 7.5

In wake of the All-Star break, the Rays and Twins look to put poor first halves behind them as they square off on Friday night.

Despite high preseason expectations from many, the Rays sit tied for last place in the AL East, 9.5 games behind the Orioles, but come into this contest with wins in six of their past nine games. They were able to do well against the Blue Jays right before the break, taking 2-of-3 games and winning the rubber match by a score of 3-0. Starter David Price was phenomenal once again, throwing eight shutout innings while allowing five hits with five strikeouts (1 walk). OF Kevin Kiermaier (.310 BA) has been a great surprise for Tampa Bay this year and was 9-for-14 (.643) with a homer, 7 RBI and four runs in the four games before the break. Minnesota had a great start to the year and comes into the second half with some momentum, winning five of its past six contests. The offense blew up against the Rockies in the last series, winning 2-of-3 games while scoring a combined 24 runs over the three contests. The Twins took a 13-5 win in the rubber match, as Brian Dozier (.242 BA) had three extra-base hits (1 double, 2 HR) and was 13-for-46 (.282) with three homers, 7 RBI and eight runs in 10 games before the finish of the first half. In this matchup, Rays RHP Alex Cobb (4-6, 4.14 ERA) will be pitted against Twins RHP Kyle Gibson (8-7, 3.92 ERA). Tampa Bay has struggled as a road team with a 22-25 record while its opponent is just below .500 (21-22) when playing in front of its hometown fans. The two clubs have gone head-to-head 16 times over the past three years with the Rays dominating overall (12-4) and going a solid 5-1 in Minnesota. Some trends to take note of in this game include that the Twins were a dreadful 13-34 (.277) in the second half last season, while Tampa Bay is a meager 13-26 (.333) after a game where their bullpen gave up no runs this year. On the injury front, OF Wil Myers (wrist) continues to be out while OF Desmond Jennings (knee) was day-to-day entering the break for the Rays. Meanwhile, 1B Joe Mauer (oblique) and SS Danny Santana (knee) are currently on the 15-day DL and should make their returns soon for the Twins.

Last season, Alex Cobb’s numbers were much better due to the fact that hitters batted .279 BABIP, while he left a very high 81.4% of batters on base. In 2014, he is looking more like himself while still striking out a good number of batters (8.1 K/9) and limiting his walks (2.8 BB/9). He was unable to get past the fifth inning in three of his final four outings before the All-Star break, but pitched well in his last start against the Royals (6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K’s). He has never faced the Twins in his young career, but will need to pitch carefully when going against 2B Brian Dozier who has the most home runs (18) among second baseman in the league. Another name that he will need to tread lightly against is C Kurt Suzuki who has a .309 average while striking out in just 8.0% of his at-bats. On the other hand, OF Josh Willingham (.212) and OF Oswaldo Arcia (.222) have not been having the seasons they expected to. The Rays bullpen has gone 15-16 with a 3.88 ERA and 1.24 WHIP while successfully saving 21-of-30 (70%) games. Jake McGee (1.52 ERA, 7 saves) has taken over the closer role for Tampa Bay, and has been solid with a sparkling 5.6 K/BB ratio (50 K's, 9 BB) over 41.1 innings of work this year.

Kyle Gibson has been a solid arm in the Twins system for plenty of years now, but disappointed fans with a 6.53 ERA and 1.75 WHIP over 10 starts last year. He has found his way to pitching around batters this year and is doing much better despite not being any sort of strikeout pitcher (4.7 K/9). While he does not blow anyone away with his pitches, he gets them to hit it on the ground 54.6% of the time and possesses great control (2.6 BB) while allowing just 0.53 HR/9. In four of his past seven starts, Gibson has thrown 6+ scoreless innings, but lasted only two innings in two of his other outings in that timeframe. Gibson earned a win against Seattle in his last start of the first half, twirling six shutout innings while allowing seven hits and one walk while striking out three. Gibson has been absolutely shellacked in two career starts against the Rays, going 0-2 with an 11.00 ERA and 2.22 WHIP. This includes allowing seven runs on 10 hits in only three frames when he faced them earlier this year on April 22. 1B James Loney has the only extra-base hit against him on the team though, as he is 2-for-4 with a double and 2 RBI in the matchup. Meanwhile, SS Yunel Escobar is hitless with three strikeouts in his four at-bats against the young righty. The relievers for Minnesota have combined to go 13-10 with a great 3.21 ERA and 1.19 WHIP this year, while going 24-for-32 (75%) in save opportunities. All-Star closer Glen Perkins (2.97 ERA, 22 saves) has been spectacular in 2014, where he is 22-for-26 in save chances with an outstanding 11.2 K/9 rate over 39.1 innings on the mound.