Aces on the Hill in Minnesota

The Minnesota Twins are in the midst of their most crucial stretch of baseball they’ve had all year. With a four game lead in the AL Central and a nine-game homestand, the Twins have an opportunity to really bury the White Sox in the division. They’ve started it out on the right foot with back-to-back victories over the Detroit Tigers, and they will go for the sweep tonight behind right-hander Scott Baker.

MLB Betting Line:
Spread: Tigers +1 ½ (-165), Mets -1 ½ (+145)
Moneyline: Tigers (+140), Mets (-160)
Over/Under: 7 ½
Date: Thursday, September 2 – 8:10 PM ET
TV: FS-D HD, FS-N

[Off topic: by the way, do you want to get a 60% bonus on your first deposit here at BetOnline? So go on JOIN NOW.]

Probable Pitchers:
DET Justin Verlander, RHP (14-8, 3.58 ERA), MIN Scott Baker, RHP (12-9, 4.55 ERA)

The Tigers will have their ace on the hill in Justin Verlander, and he’ll be hoping to change the Tigers fortunes in Minnesota as his team has lost seven of eight at the Twins’ new venue. Verlander won his last outing, but hasn’t put together back to back wins in over a month. He did beat the Twins last time out, but he’ll be facing a very hot pitcher in Scott Baker.

Baker won his last time out, which was his fifth victory in a row. In fact, the last time he took the loss was on July 19th against Cleveland no less. His ERA is under 3 in his last three outings and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Here are some MLB Betting Trends for this game:

• Over is 4-0 in Bakers last 4 starts vs. Tigers.
• Over is 5-1 in Bakers last 6 home starts vs. Tigers.
• Over is 5-1-1 in Verlander’s last 7 starts vs. Twins.
• Over is 3-1-1 in Verlander’s last 5 road starts vs. Twins.
• Under is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings in Minnesota.

It has been the Twins pitching that has been carrying the team of late as they’re dealing with injuries to some key players. Slugger Justin Morneau and Jim Thome are both out, while speedster Orlando Hudson has also missed some time, so for the Twins to have continued success without some very key parts to their line-up really says a lot about the depth of this team.

If they want to get the sweep tonight they’re really going to have to dig deep to get past Verlander who has been very good against the Twins this year. He has a 1.64 ERA in his two starts versus the Twinkies, yet still only has a 1-1 mark.

With Baker throwing the ball so well, expect a very low scoring game. If you want to parlay a Twins victory with the under, go for it, but I’m just going to suggest a play on the under (7 ½).