For most of the year the Detroit Tigers have had their way with the division leading Minnesota Twins, but last night the Twins took a 5-3 win behind a grand slam from Matt Wallner to get to an AL Central best 63-58. The Tigers do still lead the season series 7-5.
For Game 2 of this series the 53-66 Tigers will send 2-5 Reese Olson to the mound with his 4.45 ERA against Kenta Maeda. Maeda is 3-7 with a 3.97 ERA in 13 starts this season and Olson will be making his 11th starts.
This two-game set will come to an end this afternoon in Minnesota and the Twins are favored after winning last night.
Tigers vs. Twins odds, run line and total
Tigers vs. Twins prediction and pick
His record might not show it, but Kenta Maeda has been very good for the Minnesota Twins. He could be the best fifth starter in the league and with Bailey Ober’s struggles lately he’s looking more like No. 4. He has a FIP of 3.56 and an xERA of 3.34, both better than his ERA that is hovering around four.
Last time out for Maeda was also against the Tiger and he went six innings allowing just one run on three hits with one walk and four strikeouts, but the Twins fell 3-0. That was a hard luck loss if I’ve ever seen one and Maeda has already had more than his fair share of those in just 13 starts this season.
His weakness lately is home runs, he’s given up nine and one in each of his last five starts. He’s a veteran, so he knows not to give in with runners on base and hasn’t given up a big three-run shot often, but if the ball is leaving the park, that’s obviously still in the cards. I just don’t see it happening today because over the last 30 days Detroit is 22nd in homers with 28 and 23rd in baseball with a .302 on base percentage.
Over the past week, Carlos Correa has been raking for Minnesota. Last night he had just one hit and scored a run, but over the past five games he is hitting .313 with two homers and a double. The Twins will take both games of this two-game set.
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