There’s a lot of public money coming in on the Twins in the May 21st AL free pick and why wouldn’t there be – Minnesota is a +101 underdog on Tuesday. That’s a Minnesota team that is in 1st in the AL Central, is 15-8 on the road, and took game one of the series vs. the Angels 3-1 on Monday. LAA is nonetheless listed at -109 in this one, are they the play at home?
Twins On a Roll Lately
Minnesota has won 4 of 5 on their current West Coast road trip including a 3-1 victory over the Angels on Monday as +124 underdogs. Rocco Baldelli’s team has built a 4.5 game lead in the division while pushing their road record to 7 games above .500. The Twins have had this success on the heels of the league’s #2 offense in runs/game, BA, and OPS. Both C.J. Cron and Byron Buxton have hit 3HR over the past week for Minnesota, who also ranks 3rd in the league in round trippers. The Twins scored 40 runs total in their 4-game series vs. the Mariners over the weekend.
Minnesota’s starter on Tuesday is Michael Pineda, attempting to limit the long ball from opposing batters as he’s given up 3 HR’s in each of the last two games. Luckily for the right-hander the damage was minimized as all six of those shots were of the solo variety. Pineda has given up at least 3ER in each of his last 7 starts. That being said, Pineda could be solid in the May 21st AL free pick against an Angels offense not only struggling, but has just two hitters that have faced the Minnesota starter more than 6AB.
Angels Search for Some Offense
Los Angeles managed just 6 hits in Monday’s series opening loss, half of which came off the bat of Tommy La Stella. LAA has now scored just 2 total runs in their last two games, The Angels still have a top 10 offense in the league in batting average, and have scored at least 5 runs in 6 of the last 10 games. Minnesota’s Pineda has also given up the 2nd most HR in the entire league and LA ranks 15th in long balls. The Angels have hit just 4HR over the past week however which further gives the Twins an edge here.
The task of trying to slow down Minnesota’s high-powered offense in this tilt falls on Trevor Cahill. The Angels right-hander had his last start come against the Twins six days ago and it wasn’t great as Minnesota scored 6ER on Cahill in 4.1 IP. Cahill has a 9.35 ERA over his last six starts, allowing at least 4ER in all but one of those games. The O/U for Tuesday’s game is 9 which doesn’t seem nearly high enough.
May 21st AL Free Pick Betting
Oddsmakers definitely seem to be baiting bettors into the Twins in this one with Minnesota being listed at +105. Pineda hasn’t been great on the mound for Minnesota, but neither has Cahill for LAA. Even if the game is a trap, there’s solid value on the Twins as underdogs. That being said, this game should be very high scoring as well.
AL Free Pick: Minnesota Twins +105
Bonus Pick: “Over” 9
