After having their season-best, six-game winning streak snapped with a 5-4 loss on Monday, the Minnesota Twins turn to left-hander Martin Perez in the finale of their brief two-game interleague series with the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
Perez (7-1, 2.95 ERA) is 6-1 with a 2.27 ERA in his past seven starts, allowing 33 hits over 43 2/3 innings during that span while striking out 39.
The 28-year-old Perez, who spent his first seven seasons with the Texas Rangers, will make just his second career start against Milwaukee. His first, on Sept. 26, 2016, didn't go well, as he allowed nine hits and eight runs in 6 2/3 innings of an 8-3 loss.
Milwaukee will counter with right-hander Zach Davies (5-0, 2.95 ERA). He struggled in his lone start against the Twins on Aug. 10, 2017, giving up 11 hits and seven runs (six earned) in a 7-2 loss.
The Brewers rallied from a 4-0 deficit to win Monday's series opener 5-4 on a two-run, go-ahead homer by Orlando Arcia in the eighth inning. Arcia finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs.
It marked just the sixth time in 36 games this season that the Twins lost a game after scoring first.
"It was, at least from our perspective, a fun game," Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. "Two good teams. They're a tough team to get through. Their lineup is really, really strong."
Minnesota, behind a three-run homer by Byron Buxton, jumped out to a four-run lead in the second inning before the Brewers rebounded to score three runs in the third highlighted by an RBI double by Arcia.
Arcia then hit the game-winning two-run blast deep into the left field bleachers off reliever Taylor Rogers in the eighth. It marked the first time since June 28, 2018, that Rogers had given up a lead.
"It's been awhile since this has happened, so good news," Rogers told MLB.com. "And I don't have my head in the sand. I know it's going to happen. Probably happen again."
It was just the second loss in the last 13 games for Minnesota, which is still a sparkling 19-7 in May. The Twins, who haven't dropped a series since May 3-5 at New York against the Yankees, have lost just four series this season and have yet to be swept in one.
Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli said he wasn't disappointed with his team's performance in the Monday defeat.
"I think we played good baseball," Baldelli said. "Offensively, had some opportunities. Didn't make the most of all of them but as a whole had good at-bats. I thought their pitchers threw the ball well and made life difficult for us. I thought we played well behind our pitchers and swung the bats well.
"Even when you play pretty well, you're not going to win every game, especially when you run into a good, talented team. They have a very good and dangerous lineup. You have to make a lot of good pitches to get through that lineup."