The Minnesota Twins take on the Detroit Tigers tonight in Major League Baseball action. The game is scheduled for a 7:08 p.m. start time and it will be televised live on MLB.tv as well as locally in both markets. Currently the betting odds for the game have the Tigers favored to pick up the win at home.
Detroit lost on Sunday Night Baseball to the Kansas City Royals just the other day, but didn't play on Monday. The Tigers weren't able to scratch the winning run across the plate in the ninth inning despite having the bases loaded and nobody out against arguably the best closer in baseball with Greg Holland. Games like that are tough to lose, especially with such a golden opportunity.
Now the Tigers have to host the Twins, who are red hot after winning eight of their last 10 games overall. They also sit just a game behind the Tigers in the American League Central standings, both teams looking up closely at the Kansas City Royals. Minnesota wasn't supposed to be a very good team this season by many accounts, but sometimes early in the season a team finds a way to put together some wins and feel good about themselves. Whether the Twins can do this the rest of the season obviously remains to be seen, but so far they look decent.
The Tigers will send Alfredo Simon to the mound — he's 4-1 on the season with a 3.43 ERA in his starts. Simon has won both of his starts at Comerica Park, allowing just two earned runs in 14 innings. Current Twins hitters have a .200 average against him in 25 at bats, but Kurt Suzuki has owned Simon with two home runs in seven at bats.
Minnesota will send Kyle Gibson to the hill, he's 3-2 with a 2.97 ERA. Current Tigers own an average of .324 against him in 102 at bats, several players have good numbers against him from this lineup including Miguel Cabrera, J.D. Martinez and Ian Kinsler, who all have an average above .400 against him with a home run. In Gibson's three starts away from home this season he's 0-2 with an ERA of 6.32 in 15 2/3 innings. Those numbers probably won't get any better tonight.
Free Pick: Detroit
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