Minnesota Twins (14-8) at Cleveland Indians (9-12)
7 :05 PM ET on MLBN
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Starting Pitchers
MIN: K. Slowey (2-2, 3.42)
CLE: F. Carmona (3-0, 2.96)
The Indians will look to gain some ground in the standings as they host the reigning AL Central champs the Minnesota Twins in game one of a three-game series at Progressive Field in Cleveland on Friday.
Looking more like the Indians from the movie ‘Major League’, Cleveland returns home from a 3-6-road trip to Minnesota, Oakland, and Anaheim. The team has been struggling on both sides of the ball. Five of the team’s nine position starters are hitting under .200, including three players expected to carry much of the load offensively –Sizemore, Hafner and Peralta. Defensively they haven’t been much better giving up 15 unearned runs, the most in the league. Meanwhile, the Twins are dealing with their own offensive struggles coming off a three-game series that resulted in two loses against Detroit. Justin Morneau — the majors’ leader with a .495 on-base percentage, complained of his back Tuesday in Detroit and was kept out of the lineup for the series’ final two games after going 0-for-3 in game one on three strikeouts. He is expected to return for the series against Cleveland.
The division-leading Twins made a last minute change and will go with right-hander Kevin Slowey in game one. Nick Blackburn was set to start but left the team Thursday to tend to a family matter. Slowey will move up in the rotation and will look to bounce back from Sunday’s start in Kansas City, where he gave up four runs and eight hits over 5 1/3 innings in a 4-3 loss. The 25-year old may get just what he needs when he matches up against the struggling Indians. Slowey gave up one run and struck out nine over eight innings in a 5-1 win April 20, improving to 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA in his last three starts versus Cleveland.
The Tribe will lay their hopes of turning around their recent struggles on the shoulders of 27-year old Dominican, Fausto Carmona. The righty’s hot start is reminiscent of his 2007 season when he went 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA and 137 strikeouts, a far cry from last year’s implosion that ended with Carmona tossing balls in the Arizona rookie league. He boosted his record to a perfect 3-0 shutting down the Oakland Athletics by scattering seven hits over 7-1/3 innings as the Indians broke out of their scoring slump with a 6-1 victory Saturday. Carmona is 3-6 with a 5.11 ERA in 14 career appearances in 10 starts against Minnesota.
Odds makers have the Twins as –1-½ – favorites with a run total of 9.
This game will be decided by which team can get the most production out of their lineup. The Twins should win that battle and the UNDER.
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Minnesota Twins Betting Trends:
- Minnesota is 14-7 SU in its last 21 games
- Minnesota is 8-4 SU in its last 12 games on the road
- Minnesota is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Cleveland
- Minnesota is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Cleveland
Cleveland Indians Betting Trends:
- Cleveland is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 13 of Cleveland’s last 19 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Cleveland’s last 10 games at home
- Cleveland is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games at home
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