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It is the opening game of a four-game AL Central series between the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins. It is time to continue our MLB odds series with a Tigers-Twins prediction, pick, and how-to watch.
The Twins enter the game after sweeping a short two-game series over the Milwaukee Brewers. It took a walk-off in the ninth to win the first game of the series, and a great outing by Bailey Ober to win the second. After suffering through a five-game losing streak, the Twins have now won four of their last five. They are sitting 35-33 on the season and in first place in the AL Central.
Meanwhile, the Tigers are struggling. They lost two of three to the Braves, and enter the game losing 11 of their last 12 games. This has dropped them to 27-39 on the season, after sitting just below .500 a few weeks ago. Somehow, they are still in the race for the AL Central. They sit just seven games back of the Twins and could make up a lot of ground over the weekend.
Here are the Tigers-Twins MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Tigers-Twins Odds
Detroit Tigers: +1.5 (-120)
Minnesota Twins: -1.5 (+100)
Over: 8 (+100)
Under: 8 (-122)
How To Watch Tigers vs. Twins
TV: BSDET/BSNO
Stream: MLB.TV
Time: 7:10 PM ET/ 4:10 PM PT
*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Tigers Could Cover The Spread
Article Continues Below
The Tigers may be the worst offense in all of baseball. They are 27th in on-base percentage, 29th in batting average and slugging, and last in runs scored in the league. They have been putting up a fair amount of runs as of late. In the series against the Braves, they scored 18 runs in three games, and have scored 29 runs in their last six games. It is one of the best streaks the offense has been on all year, yet they only got one win.
Zach Short has been driving in a lot of those runs. He has five RBIs in the month, and all of them are in the last week. He is not hitting particularly well, hitting just .207 this month, but his RBI numbers have been solid. Jake Rogers has also been driving in a fair amount of runs. He drove in three in his last game and has five on the month with three home runs. He is hitting much better this month as well. His season-long average is .174, but he is hitting .263 this month. Miguel Cabrera is also doing the most of his limited at-bats. He smashed two home runs in the first game on Wednesday and is hitting .348 this month.
On the hill, today for the Tigers will be Matthew Boyd. Boyd is 3-5 on the year with a 5.55 ERA. Just the two starts this month show the up-and-down nature of his season. On June 4th he went five innings, giving up just three hits and one run. Last time out he went five innings but gave up six hits, two walks, two home runs, and five runs overall. That was the fourth time this year that Boyd has given up five or more runs in a start.
Why The Twins Could Cover The Spread
While the Tiger's offense is bad, the Twins are not that special either. They sit 18th in the majors in runs scored while sitting 24th in batting average and 22nd in on-base percentage. Joey Gallo is back from injury, and while that will not be helping the team's batting average, it will certainly drive in some runs with his power. Gallo leads the team in home runs this year with 11 of them.
The team leader in batting average is Byron Buxton, who is hitting just .220 on the season. Boston is currently on the IL, but they had not been hitting well. He was hitting below .200 for the month before hitting the injured list. Donovan Solano has been hitting well though. He is hitting .308 on the month and has five RBIs and seven walks. This has given him an OBP of .426 this month. Joining him in recent hot hitting is Carlos Correa. Correa may be hitting just .257 this month, but he has ten RBIs. That is due to three doubles, a triple, and three home runs on the month, giving him a .657 slugging percentage in June.
The Twins may not need much run support with Sonny Gray going to the mound today. He is 4-1 this year with a 2.25 ERA. Gray has not given up more than three runs in any start this year. He has also given up just one home run the entire season. Gray has been one of the best pitchers in the league this year, and if the Twins can score some runs, they will get the win.
Final Tigers-Twins Prediction & Pick
This is going to be a lower-scoring game. Not only are both offenses not great at scoring runs, but Sonny Gray also does not give up many. Against a similar ranked offense, the Royals, he has given up just one run in 11 innings against him. The Tigers may not score a run today. If the Twins can just get a few runs of support, they will get the win with ease.
Final Tigers-Twins Prediction & Pick: Twins -1.5 (+100) and Under 8 (-122)
