Baseball Betting Picks: Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians

Added on Aug 08, 2012 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

Daytime baseball on Wednesday as the Minnesota Twins play the slumping Indians in Cleveland. Until recently, Cleveland was in the mix for the divisional title but that was before a horrific slide and their current 11 game losing streak. Now the AL Central is being contended between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers, while the Indians are trying to hold on to third place. Minnesota is playing decent baseball having won 7 of 10 and are now just 1 game behind the downward spiraling Indians.

Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians
August 8, 2012 9:05 PM Pacific

Two teams heading in different directions but at drastically different speeds. The Minnesota Twins started the season as one of the worst teams in baseball but have shown considerable pluck in the past month or so. Their starting pitching has improved and they’ve managed to remain competitive while shedding payroll thanks to the emergence of talented young players, particularly in their starting rotation. They’ll enter this contest +9.3 units on the road and in the black overall for the season (albeit only slightly)–both of which seemed highly unlikely just a couple of months ago.

It’s hard to add more to the deplorable current form of the Cleveland Indians–”11 game losing streak” pretty much says it all. Yet that alone doesn’t accurately convey the collapse of this team. They’ve lost 17 of their last 21 and were that not enough this isn’t a good pitching matchup for them. The Indians have been horrific against left handed pitching this year going 10-24 -14.4 units against southpaws. Brian Duensing has been far from spectacular, but his form is at least better than Cleveland starter Justin Masterson–Masterson has allowed 15 earned runs in his last two starts including 8 earned runs against the Twins at Minnesota on July 28. That sort of performance in a ‘pitchers park’ like Target Field doesn’t bode well for Masterson’s in Cleveland’s more ‘hitter friendly’ home venue.

Minnesota has certainly had Cleveland’s number this year–they’ve won 7 of 10 +4.9 units against the Tribe this season including a 4-1 +7.8 tally at this venue. Until the Indians show some signs of improvement they’re strictly a ‘go against’ team and we have no problem using the scrappy and hard trying Twins against them as an underdog.

Bet Minnesota Twins (Duensing) +125 over Cleveland Indians (Masterson)