Rangers vs. Twins Pick
Who will take the rubber match when the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers continue their weekend series tonight at 7:10PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at BetDSI, the Rangers are favored on the road, as they are getting odds of -125 to win, while the Twins are listed with odds of +120 to prevail. The over/under total for the contest has been set at 9.5 runs.
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The pitching matchup tonight has Cole Hamels (5-1, 4.01 ERA) on the mound for Texas to face Kyle Gibson (6-8, 6.08) of the Twins. Hamels was on a nice run, but has struggled in his last three starts, giving up 15 runs over 17.1 innings. On the season, Hamels has 48 strikeouts with 23 walks and a 1.13 WHIP. Gibson has struggled most of the season and has allowed 14 earned runs over his last 17.1 innings of work. He has 62 strikeouts in 2017 with 45 walks and a 1.71 WHIP.
These two have split the first two games of this series. Texas picked up a 4-1 win on Thursday night, but the Twins followed that up with an 8-4 win at home on Friday. The Twins are now 52-55 overall and 24-32 at home while the Rangers are 52-57 overall and 24-31 on the road.
The Twins jumped early on Martin Perez, posting seven runs on him over just 4.2 innings of work. He took his 10th loss of the season. Bartolo Colon gave the Twins a surprising complete game. He allowed four runs on nine hits with five strikeouts, but managed to go the whole nine. Brian Dozier had two home runs to lead the Twins while Robbie Grossman had a pair of hits and drove in three runs. Adrian Beltre drove in a pair of runs to lead Texas while Elvis Andrus added three hits.
Neither pitcher is inspiring much confidence right now, but Hamels has a track record of being the stronger pitcher. Also, his whip is more than ½ a baserunner better than Gibson. Those extra baserunners could make the difference in today’s game. Texas seems to have the more powerful hitters that can break the game open with one swing. I just don’t see Gibson giving the Twins a real shot to win.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: TEXAS RANGERS -120