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Chris Jordan
Wrong time for the Cleveland Indians to be visiting the Minnesota Twins, that's for sure. Cleveland loses three straight at home, to the lowly Kansas City Royals, and now you're going to face the preseason division favorite? OOF!
I like the Twins in this one, as they're battling to get back to first place, chasing the Chicago White Sox, while holding off the third-place Indians.
These two last played each other Aug. 24-26 at Progressive Field, where the Indians took two out of three games. That adds to the importance of this series for the Twins.
I know the Indians are sending Cy Young-candidate Shane Bieber to the hill, but the Twins will be out for revenge against him, as he's 5-0 in 10 appearances against them. He has a 3.47 ERA in those games, nine of them starts, but Minnesota batters are hitting .266 against him.
Minnesota is 7-3 in its last 10 games including a doubleheader split in St. Louis on Tuesday, and should be rested after taking off Wednesday and Thursday. I trust we'll see offense against Bieber, likely sparked by Nelson Cruz Jr., who is batting .500 with a 1.363 OPS and two home runs in his last seven games, and Byron Buxton, who has six hits and a .316 batting average in his last six games.
Challenging Bieber will be Kenta Maeda, who is 2-0 with a ultra-stingy 0.82 ERA and 13 strikeouts with just two walks in two starts against the Indians this season.
Take Minnesota in this very important series lid-lifter.
5* TWINS
Wrong time for the Cleveland Indians to be visiting the Minnesota Twins, that's for sure. Cleveland loses three straight at home, to the lowly Kansas City Royals, and now you're going to face the preseason division favorite? OOF!
I like the Twins in this one, as they're battling to get back to first place, chasing the Chicago White Sox, while holding off the third-place Indians.
These two last played each other Aug. 24-26 at Progressive Field, where the Indians took two out of three games. That adds to the importance of this series for the Twins.
I know the Indians are sending Cy Young-candidate Shane Bieber to the hill, but the Twins will be out for revenge against him, as he's 5-0 in 10 appearances against them. He has a 3.47 ERA in those games, nine of them starts, but Minnesota batters are hitting .266 against him.
Minnesota is 7-3 in its last 10 games including a doubleheader split in St. Louis on Tuesday, and should be rested after taking off Wednesday and Thursday. I trust we'll see offense against Bieber, likely sparked by Nelson Cruz Jr., who is batting .500 with a 1.363 OPS and two home runs in his last seven games, and Byron Buxton, who has six hits and a .316 batting average in his last six games.
Challenging Bieber will be Kenta Maeda, who is 2-0 with a ultra-stingy 0.82 ERA and 13 strikeouts with just two walks in two starts against the Indians this season.
Take Minnesota in this very important series lid-lifter.
5* TWINS
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