Heading into August 22nd Twins at Royals betting, Minnesota would seem like a solid play even at -160. The 17-10 Twins sit atop the AL Central while Kansas City is in a fight with Detroit to avoid last place. Mike Matheny’s team won Friday night’s opener 7-2 though and is now 5-3 vs. Minnesota this season.
Saturday’s game is a pitching rematch of last Sunday’s meeting between Randy Dobnak (4-1, 1.42 ERA) and Brady Singer (1-2, 4.56 ERA). The Twins won that game 4-2 as -173 favorites with the total falling UNDER the listed 9.5. Will the familiarity lead to more offense in this week’s matchup?
Twins Still Struggling at Kauffman Stadium
Minnesota’s 2-7 loss on Friday has proven that the Royals home sweep a couple weeks ago was no fluke. The Twins are now 0-4 at Kauffman Stadium after losing 2-3, 6-9, and 2-4 in Kansas City from August 7th-9th.
The Twins did strike back taking 3 of 4 from the Royals in the Twin Cities last weekend. Minnesota didn’t score more than four runs in a game during that series though and are averaging just 3.25 scores in 8 games vs. Kansas City this season. The Twins have hit just .216 vs. Singer this season and have just one HR in 37 AB.
Dobnak will make his 2nd straight start vs. Kansas City in August 22nd Twins at Royals betting. He helped Minnesota to a 4-2 win last Sunday even after allowing HRs to Hunter Dozier and Alex Gordon, both solo. Dobnak serving up 2ER last week to the Royals was the first time in four starts he surrendered more than one.
Royals Love the Matchup?
Nearly half of Kansas City’s 11 wins this season have come against division leading Minnesota. The Royals are 6-5 at Kauffman Stadium this season, but 4-0 at home against the Twins. That success from KC really is an anomaly considering they were 5-14 vs. Minnesota a year ago including 3-6 at home.
Minnesota would seem to be primed for a bounce-back game on Saturday and the -1.5 run line is still -115. There just doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of runs lined up for this one even though Kansas City put up 7 vs. Jake Odorizzi on Friday powered by HRs from Dozier and Jorge Soler. KCR had just 9 runs total in four games vs. the Twins last weekend.
Saturday marks the 3rd straight start Singer will make against Minnesota. Three of his six career starts will have been against the Twins after today but he’s fared well against this potent offense allowing 5ER in 10.2 IP. Singer allowed just 2 ER across 5IP against Minnesota on August 9th for his first career win and he’s allowed 1 HR and a .216 average in 37 Twins ABs.
August 22nd Twins at Royals Betting Pick
This would seem to be a pitcher’s duel both Dobnak and Singer pitched well in last Sunday’s meeting. This will be Singer’s third straight meeting vs. Minnesota but does that favor the hitter or the pitcher? Besides Cruz, the Twins have just 2 HR in the past 8 games and they’ve only scored over 4 runs twice in the last 8.
Free Pick: Under 9.5
