After ripping off a gargantuan winning streak in the middle of May, the Twins are only 4-4 in their last eight games coming into Wednesday’s tilt with the Rays. Still, there’s reason for optimism in Minnesota. First and foremost, the Twins have vaulted themselves into second place in the American League Central. Secondly, the team will send ace Pablo Lopez to the mound this afternoon.
Tampa Bay, also quite hot at the moment having won seven of its last 10, will counter with Drew Rasmussen. Looking to try and take the rubber match of this three-game set.
Let’s break down this matchup of two surging squads with some odds and lines on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Twins vs. Rays prediction, preview
There are still a couple reasons to be tentative about Rasmussen’s journey back from multiple arm injuries — chief among them the total disappearance of his swinging strike rate — yet it would be difficult for Kevin Cash to ask for more from his veteran RHP. Across 10 starts and 52.0 innings, Rasmussen has maintained a 2.60 ERA and a 3.32 xERA. That includes back-to-back scoreless six-inning outings against the Marlins and the Blue Jays in his two most recent trips to the mound. While you’d obviously love to see more whiffs out of the 29-year-old, Rasmussen has done a great job of registering a high ground ball rate (51.4%) and limiting his opponent barrel rate (6.2%). If you are going to skew towards being a contact pitcher, this is the way to do it.
The second-half of this amazing pitcher’s duel is the aforementioned Lopez, who has basically been untouchable since a rocky Opening Day start against the Cardinals. To wit, in the eight outings Lopez has made since the beginning of April, the veteran RHP possesses a sterling 2.17 ERA and 2.19 FIP. In all honesty, Lopez is simply a FIP darling, as the 29-year-old hardly ever issues a walk or gives up an opponent home run. If you’re going to score off Lopez, you’re usually going to need to string multiple hits together in a single frame. A task that is easier said than done.
It’s certainly an area where the Rays have struggled in 2025. Though the team has definitely proven its much more successful against right-handed opponents than lefties, Tampa has had problems scoring runs off anyone so far in May. In fact, the Rays enter Wednesday sporting a 95 wRC+ and a .132 ISO in the month, with the latter stat ranking 25th in all of baseball.
Twins vs. Rays pick, best bet
Best Bet: Under 8 (-115)
A classic pitcher’s duel between two teams that don’t feature a lot of home run pop in their bats.
Strong Lean: Twins ML (-108)
The Twins have won each of Lopez’s past four starts, while Tampa is just 17-19 at “home” in 2025.
