Subscribe
Follow Us
The Minnesota Twins take on the Houston Astros. Check out our MLB odds series for our Twins Astros prediction and pick.
Aaron Sanchez gets the call for the Twins, while Justin Verlander goes to the mound for the Astros.
Aaron Sanchez, formerly of the Toronto Blue Jays, began this season with the Washington Nationals and threw 31 1/3 innings in several starts, none of them remarkable. His last outing with the Nats was on May 28. He was later acquired by the Twins and made his first start for the team on Aug. 1. He went five innings and gave up two runs against the Blue Jays. The Twins will be glad if they get that kind of performance on a consistent basis. Sanchez has not pitched since that Aug. 1 start, so it is really hard to know how he will perform. This will be only his second start in the past two and a half months.
Justin Verlander is the favorite to win the American League Cy Young Award. He has a 1.95 ERA, and with Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins getting crushed by the Dodgers this past Sunday, Verlander is now the only superstar pitcher in the big leagues with an ERA under two runs. Interestingly enough, Verlander's ERA was 1.73 before his last two starts. His ERA has risen after two outings which were not bad, but were also not dominant and overhwelming (the Verlander standard). He gave up three runs in six innings on Aug. 10 against the Texas Rangers, then three runs in seven innings on Aug. 16 versus the White Sox. Verlander has been so good this season that from April 23 through Aug. 9, Houston lost only two games in which he started. That's three and a half months of one team win after another. The White Sox on June 18 and the Mariners on May 27 are the only teams which really knocked him out of the box and sent him to the showers feeling he had performed poorly. Every other start — even the not-as-great ones — has been a solid demonstration of pitching. Verlander continues to turn back the clock.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Twins-Astros MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Twins-Astros Odds
Minnesota Twins: +1.5 (+115)
Houston Astros: -1.5 (-138)
Over: 7.5 (-118)
Under: 7.5 (-104)
Article Continues Below
Why The Twins Could Cover the Spread
The Twins can't hit any worse with runners in scoring position. They have hit rock-bottom as a batting order, going 2 for 26 with RISP in the just-completed four-game series at home versus the Texas Rangers. That is hard to do even for the worst-hitting teams in baseball. The Twins can't possibly continue to be this awful in big situations, and if they get hits with RISP against Justin Verlander, any sense of surprise you might feel should be counterbalanced by the idea that the Twins have been impossibly bad with RISP in recent weeks. They weren't just atrocious against the Rangers; a week earlier, they had a nightmare with RISP against the Angels and lost two of three games in that series as well. The laws of averages are bound to even out for Minnesota.
Why The Astros Could Cover the Spread
Justin Verlander against Aaron Sanchez. You won't find bigger mismatches in pitching probables all season long in the majors. Beyond that, Twins star Byron Buxton got injured on Monday in the loss to Texas. Not having him against Verlander is a huge minus for Minnesota and an obvious boost for Houston.
Final Twins-Astros Prediction & Pick
Verlander versus Sanchez, with no Byron Buxton? This is a pretty easy betting pick to make.
Final Twins-Astros Prediction & Pick: Astros -1.5
