Overview
The Minnesota Twins look to avoid the sweep today in Detroit where they take on the Tigers in the final game of a three game series. The Tigers won the first two games fairly easily outscoring the Twins 17-10. The Tigers have played the Twins well of late especially in Detroit winning 9 of the last 12 meetings.
Head to Head Trends
Twins are 0-5 in the last 5 meetings.
Twins are 3-9 in the last 12 meetings in Detroit.
Detroit Tigers (-160)
The Detroit Tigers are 4th in the American League Central with an 18-21 record 6 games back of the 1st place Chicago White Sox. The Tigers have been hot and cold this season that’s usually a sign of a team with bad pitching and good hitting which the Tigers have.
The Tigers are batting .257 as a team and averaging 4.44 runs per game on the season while allowing 4.74 runs per game. The Tigers bats are however pretty hot right now scoring 23 runs over their last 3 games so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Tigers go on a nice little run over the next week or so.
Starting for the Tigers in this one is Justin Verlander who is 2-4 with a 4.71 ERA on the season. At first glance it looks like Verlander hasn’t been pitching all that great but 6 of his 8 starts this season have been quality starts it was just the other couple starts that he got smoked in that is making his numbers look as bad as they are.
Detroit Tigers Trends
Tigers are 5-0 in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning % below .400.
Tigers are 6-2 in their last 8 games following a win.
Minnesota Twins (+150)
The Minnesota Twins are last in the AL Central with a 10-28 record 13.5 games out of 1st place. The Twins haven’t played well on either side of the ball so far this season. They are averaging just 3.63 runs per game on offense and allowing 5.32 runs per game on defense.
On the hill for the Twins today is Ricky Nolasco who is 1-1 with a 4.87 ERA on the season. Nolasco has had a couple good starts this season but for the most part he’s been pretty awful and the Tigers have already beat him once this season so I can see the Tigers easily putting up 5+ runs on him again today.
Minnesota Twins Trends
Twins are 7-19 in their last 26 road games.
Twins are 1-10 in their last 11 games after losing the first 2 games of a series.
Conclusion
I like the Detroit Tigers over the Twins again today. The Tigers are obviously the better team overall but I really like the way they are hitting the ball right now and I also like Verlander over Nolasco in the starting pitching matchup.
Free Pick: Detroit Tigers -160 from MyBookie
