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The Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays square off on Saturday with first pitch set for 4:10 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. The pitching matchup will feature Rays aces of past vs. present as Chris Archer will return to the Trop to face Shane McClanahan.
Minnesota had a seven-game winning streak snapped last night in a 6-1 loss in Game 1 of the series against Tampa Bay. Archer will make his fourth start of the season and will go up against his former team Saturday afternoon. He hasn’t been allowed to go all that deep into game, but he has been effective, allowing just 4 runs over 11.1 innings of work. The Twins rank outside the top half of the MLB in many of the major categories, though they’ve been swinging the bats extremely well over this stretch of success.
Tampa Bay won five of their previous six games including three in a row heading into Saturday’s matchup. The Rays used a four-run first inning to build an early lead last night, highlighted by a three-run blast from Josh Lowe. Shane McClanahan will get started on the mound, and he has done extremely well through four starts so far with a 2.45 ERA through 22 inning pitched. The Rays are slightly above average offensively, and Wander Franco leads the team with 25 hits.
Twins vs. Rays
Pitchers: Chris Archer vs. Shane McClanahan
First pitch: 4:10 p.m. ET
Twins local broadcast: Bally Sports North
Rays local broadcast: Bally Sports Sun
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Moneyline odds: Rays -195, Twins +165
Picks & predictions
Moneyline pick: Twins +165
Tampa Bay has a decent advantage on the mound, but taking the Rays with -195 odds has very low value with such a small payout. Though he has not gone deep through three starts, Archer keeps the Twins in the game, and he will be even more focused going up against his former team in his former stadium. Minnesota has been hot, and they are worth the risk at this price.
Player prop pick: Mike Zunino U0.5 hits (-125)
The Rays catcher whacked his first home run of the season on Friday night, but I’d bet against him having another successful day at the plate the second game in a row. He has 40 at-bats this season with just 4 hits, and expecting him to go hitless once again would be a solid wager in this matchup.
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