The Minnesota Twins will look to carry on with their early-season successes when they bring in the Detroit Tigers for the beginning of a three-game American League Central bill. These two clubs will be playing one another eight times in the next 11 days.
The Twins (25-16) are playing some of their best baseball – having won seven of nine – and are perched atop the division right now. They return to Target Field from a six-game road swing that concluded with a sweep of Kansas City.
Meanwhile, the Tigers (14-26) look to climb from the bottom of the grouping. Detroit is 3-7 against AL Central opponents thus far. They lost all three against the Twins near the end of April.
The Tigers’ struggles begin at the dish. Their .219 batting average is lower than all but Arizona and Oakland. Of players with at least 101 at-bats, only one – franchise stalwart first baseman Miguel Cabrera – has an average above .270.
Cabrera also paces the team with 15 RBIs, while rookie first baseman Spencer Torkelson has four home runs. The latter has heated up over the past week, notching four knocks in eleven plate appearances.
Left fielder Robbie Grossman has had the best go of it against the Twins to this point, posting a .385 average in 13 chances.
Tigers at Twins Odds
MLB odds have the Twins favored to keep Detroit frustrated in this one. Minnesota is -1.5 on the run line at +112, while the Tigers are -134 to cover the spread.
On the moneyline, the Twins are -184 and Detroit a +154 underdog. The total has been set at 8.5 runs, with the over being -106 and the under -114 at the time of this writing.
MLB betting trends show that the Twins have supplemented effective hitting with some of the best pitching in the majors. As a whole, Minnesota has a 3.33 ERA, which is the third-best in the American League.
Four of the team’s batters – right fielder Max Kepler, shortstop Carlos Correa, second baseman Luis Arraez, and center fielder Gilberto Celestino – have been on hot streaks lately. Each of them have turned in averages over .300 over the last week.
The squad can count on a handful to be able to put runs across, most notably shortstop Jorge Polanco, who’s gathered 24 RBIs so far. Along with him, center Gary Sanchez and center fielder Byron Buxton have 21.
Matchup Information
Tigers at Twins Betting Preview
Chris Archer will take the mound as starting pitcher for the hosts in this one. A right-hander in his 11th year of service, he’s coming off a four-inning outing against the Athletics last Monday. He allowed two hits and an earned run in what wound up being a 3-1 win for Minnesota.
In all, Archer has been on the rubber for the Twins for 26.1 innings, putting up a 4.10 ERA up until now.
The Tigers are slated to start a newbie in 24-year-old Elvin Rodriguez. It will be only his second showing in the bigs, and his first wasn’t particularly promising. Against the Chicago White Sox, he threw for 2.2 innings, giving up three hits (including a homer) and four earned runs.
With a lackluster offense backing him up, this one might not be any prettier.
Tigers at Twins Betting Predictions
While the Twins aren’t fielding their best statistical pitcher – that would be Joe Ryan – Detroit hasn’t been able to put all that much together against many over the first month and change. The fact that the Tigers are putting an inexperienced hurler on the mound doesn’t figure to help their cause.
Minnesota is the better team, and it will show with the MLB picks today. The Twins will get on top of the younger pitcher, who won’t be on the hill for long.
Take the Twins to win the opener of this series and their fourth against Detroit in 2022. It’s doubtful that the score remains close. Get to betting on baseball and choose Minnesota to cover.
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