The Texas Rangers’ woes continued on Saturday, with a 9-7 loss to the Minnesota Twins their third in a row and seventh in their last 10 games. Texas will look to avoid a sweep on Sunday afternoon, with first pitch from Globe Life Park set for 2:35 p.m. ET. Minnesota will give the ball to righty Kenta Maeda (3-7, 4.69 ERA), while the Rangers counter with Jon Gray (8-7, 3.79).
Texas enters as -142 favorites on the moneyline at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the Twins at +120. The run total is set at 8.5.
Twins-Rangers picks: Sunday, September 3
Injury report
Twins
Out: DH/OF Byron Buxton (right hamstring strain), 1B/OF Alex Kirilloff (right shoulder strain), UTIL Willi Castro (mild left oblique strain), 3B Jose Miranda (right shoulder impingement), SP Chris Paddack (Tommy John surgery)
Rangers
Out: SP Nathan Eovaldi (right forearm strain), INF Josh Jung (left thumb fracture)
Starting pitchers
Kenta Maeda vs. Jon Gray
After a dynamite July, Maeda cooled off a bit to close August, with 12 runs and 18 hits allowed in 13 innings across his last three starts. When the righty is on, his slider and splitter are among the best in the game — his chase rate and K rate are both in the top 20% of the league — but we haven’t seen the kind of location and movement we’re used to seeing of late.
Gray also had a bumpy last couple of starts, with eight runs allowed on 11 hits across his last 10 innings. He struck out 31 batters over 29.1 innings in August, though, with a pair of dynamite seven-inning starts mixed in there. When the righty is keeping his four-seam fastball elevated and setting up his slider, he can be very good, but his command tends to waver from start to start.
Over/Under pick
We saw a whopping 16 runs put on the board in Saturday’s game, but there were just six on Friday, and I’m backing the over again here this afternoon. Texas remains mired in a miserable slump at the plate, hitting just .223/.297/.375 against righties over the last two weeks, while the Twins aren’t much better at .221/.321/.414 and with a league-high 29.8% K rate. Both Maeda and Gray haven’t been at their sharpest in recent outings, but I think both of them have the potential for big afternoons and these aren’t lineups to trust right now.
Pick: Under 8.5
Moneyline pick
The Rangers simply aren’t playing good baseball right now, and Maeda and Gray are just about a wash on the mound. This feels far more like a coin flip, so give me the team with plus odds and better recent form.
Pick: Twins +120
