MLB Baseball
2012-08-13 - Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Monday 13 August 2012 - First Pitch 8:10pm ET
1:10am (British Standard Time)
Preview
This is the beginning of a three games series at Target Field, one that the Detroit Tigers (61-54) will not want to lose as they look to close the gap on the Wild Card teams as well as the American League Central leaders, the Chicago Whit Sox. A series with the Minnesota Twins (49-65), owners of the joint worst record in the American League, should be exactly what the Tigers need.
Detroit currently trail the White Sox by 2 games in the Division and that is their first priority even with a little over six weeks left of the season. However, we are now beyond the time when teams can see they have more games left on their schedule than they have played so every series counts that little more.
Anibal Sanchez will get the ball for the Tigers, but he has struggled since coming over to Detroit from the Miami Marlins and is just 1-2 with a 7.80 ERA. He really struggled in his last start as he allowed 7 runs in 3 innings pitched against the New York Yankees and that was the most runs he has given up in a single game this season.
This game will represent the first time that Sanchez has faced the Twins in his career.
Minnesota give the ball to their rookie Samuel Deduno who is 3-0 with a 3.27 ERA this season. He had won three consecutive starts, but was hit for 4 runs in 4 innings pitched in his last start, although not being involved in the decision as the Twins were beaten 7-5.
Deduno will also be making his first start against the opponent tonight, but it could be a tough night as Detroit are one of the more powerful batting line ups in the Major League. However, the Tigers have been restricted to 3 total runs or fewer in 3 of their last 4 games- they had scored at least 6 runs in each of their previous 7 games before this mini-run.
Head to Head
Detroit lead the season series 5-4, but they will want to improve on that over their last 9 games against the Twins considering the latter do hold the worst record in the American League.
Minnesota have actually lost all 3 home games against Detroit this season and they are now just 2-11 in their last 13 here against the Tigers.
Prediction
This is a tough one mainly because of the poor form Anibal Sanchez has shown since moving to Detroit from the Miami Marlins, but I think he can help the Tigers to a win in this opening game of the series.
Detroit's bats were silenced, slightly anyway, by the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees in the last four games, but they have been scoring runs for fun recently and you have to think it could be a tough night for the rookie starting for Minnesota.
The Tigers also have a fantastic record here in recent games, winning 11 of 13, and I like them to take game 1 of this series by a couple of runs at the least- that is offered at odds against and looks the call in this one.
The Pick :
Minnesota Twins 3-6 Detroit Tigers
