Editor's note: The temperature gauge is a Bill James-created statistic that measures how hot or cold hitters are. We will spotlight Red Sox and opposing team temperatures on game days.
Despite the tough 7-5 loss to the Tigers on Wednesday night, the Red Sox are still winners of four of their last six, and have won four of six series since the All-Star break.
Now they welcome the woeful Minnesota Twins to America's Most Beloved Ballpark, looking to take their fifth series in seven chances. Boston's bats will look to jump on Minnesota's pitching, which has an American League-worst 4.87 ERA overall.
And once again, the player to most keep an eye out for is Adrian Gonzalez. With his two hits on Wednesday night, the first baseman pushed his total in the last seven games to 10 and moved his batting average to an even .300 — the first time it's been at or above that magic number since April 28. In the past week, he's also swatted a homer, driven in four runs and scored five times.
Jacoby Ellsbury is also showing further signs of returning to full strength. He's in the midst of a modest four-game hitting streak, during which he's batted .357 with a pair of RBIs, runs scored and stolen bases.
The Twins' hottest hitter at the moment is center fielder and leadoff man Denard Span. He, like Ellsbury, is in the midst of a hitting streak. Unlike Ellsbury, Span has reached double digits and stands at 10 straight games with a hit coming into Thursday's action. During that time, he's hit a whopping .463 — with two or more hits in six of those games — with four RBIs and nine runs scored.
Here are the Red Sox and Twins temperatures for Thursday, Aug. 2.
Red Sox
Adrian Gonzalez, 87
Jacoby Ellsbury, 72
Nick Punto, 71
Ryan Kalish, 71
Pedro Ciriaco, 71
Will Middlebrooks, 71
Cody Ross, 69
Carl Crawford, 66
Dustin Pedroia, 64
Kelly Shoppach, 58
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, 56
Mike Aviles, 48
Twins
Denard Span, 91
Ben Revere, 90
Danny Valencia, 78
Darin Mastroianni, 73
Justin Morneau, 72
Alexi Casilla, 70
Drew Butera, 70
Ryan Doumit, 63
Joe Mauer, 62
Brian Dozier, 61
Jamey Carroll, 60
Josh Willingham, 57
