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The Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays square off on Sunday with first pitch set for 1:10 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Minnesota will send Josh Winder (0-0, 3.48 ERA) to the mound while the Rays counter with Josh Fleming (2-2, 4.50 ERA).
The Twins (12-9) lost the first game of this series ending their seven-game win streak. They stormed back with a 9-1 win in game two with the rubber match set for Sunday. Minnesota is starting to put the ball in play more and is doing their best to pull their batting averages up from how low they started. Winder is making his first career MLB start after being used predominately out of the bullpen for the Twins. In his last outing, he went four innings and gave up three hits, one earned run, while striking out two.
The Rays (12-9) had their three-game win streak end on Saturday with the loss to Minnesota. Their hot bats cooled off and their pitching couldn’t keep them in the game. Tampa Bay is still being led by Wander Franco, Yandy Diaz and Ji-Man Choi at the plate and is needing Brandon Lowe and Randy Arozarena to end their slow starts. Fleming is making the start in this one and the reliever will likely max out at 3.1 innings or so. Of his four outings to this point, three of them have gone 3.1 innings. His last outing had an odd stat in that he gave up seven runs but none of them were earned.
Twins vs. Rays
Pitchers: Josh Winder vs. Josh Fleming
First pitch: 1:10 p.m. ET
Twins local broadcast: Bally Sports North
Rays local broadcast: Bally Sports Sun
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Moneyline odds: Twins +120, Rays -140
Picks & predictions
Moneyline pick: Rays -140
The Rays should be able to get back into the win column today against Winder, who will be making his first MLB start. The 25-year-old has been used as a reliever and done well in this role for the Twins. However, this Rays’ offense is capable of putting up a big inning, despite being held to one run.
The Twins’ offense isn't a slouch either, but when it comes to manufacturing runs, I trust the Rays to get it done as they have ninth-best batting average in the majors (.240) and holding their opponents to an OBA of .211.
Player prop pick: Carlos Correa over 1.5 total bases (+125)
Correa is one of the Twins’ hottest hitters entering today’s series finale against the Rays. The 27-year-old went 3-for-5 with an RBI in Saturday’s 9-1 win. The star shortstop has gone over 1.5 total bases with three consecutive multi-hit games. Coincidentally, he’s driven in at least one RBI in all of those games. The Rays will try to pitch around him, especially with Byron Buxton back at the lead off spot.
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