Royals vs. Twins Prediction
Can the Kansas City Royals salvage a split with the Minnesota Twins when the two conclude their four-game series today at 2:15PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, the Royals are favored at home today, as they are getting odds of -120 to win. The Twins are listed with a money line of +110 to prevail, while the over/under total has been set at 10 runs.
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The pitching matchup for today has Bartolo Colon (4-3, 3.94 ERA) on the mound for the Twins to face Jason Vargas (14-10, 4.23) of the Royals. Colon has been pretty competitive for Minnesota. He has allowed three runs or less in his last three starts and won four of his last six decisions. Colon has 80 strikeouts on the season with 31 walks and a 1.60 WHIP. Vargas has been a mess as of late, allowing a total of 20 runs over his last four starts, which have bene just 17.2 innings. Vargas has 113 strikeouts this year with 46 walks and a 1.34 WHIP.
The Twins took the first two games in this weekend series, winning 4-2 on Thursday and 8-5 on Friday. Kansas City bounced back on Saturday with a 5-2 win to set up the potential split today. The Royals are now 70-71 on the season and 37-34 at home while Minnesota sits at 74-68 overall and 39-31 on the road.
Saturday’s game saw Kansas City surge late, scoring a run in the seventh to tie the game and then posting three runs in the eighth to grab the victory. Alex Gordon tied the game with a solo home run and then Eric Hosmer had the game-winning RBI on a single in the eighth. Jake Junis pitched 6.1 innings and allowed just two earned runs for the Royals while Jose Berrios pitched seven innings and allowed two runs as well for the Twins.
Oddsmakers don’t like Bartolo Colon, but he continues to pitch well despite being given long odds. Colon had a 3.40 ERA in August with a 4-1 record. Vargas posted a 7.18 ERA in August, his second consecutive month with an ERA over 7.00. His first start in September presented a 31.50 ERA. Vargas isn’t stopping anyone right now and he doesn’t have a consistent batting order behind him. I say take the Twins as the underdog with Colon on the mound.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: MINNESOTA TWINS +110