MLB Baseball Betting: Baltimore Orioles at Minnesota Twins
The Toronto Blue Jays are off on Thursday but the AL East leading Baltimore Orioles will play a ‘write in game’ against the Twins in Minnesota. Here’s how things stand for Toronto after their loss to San Diego in the series finale on Wednesday: the Orioles are still in first place in the division with a 2.5 lead over the Blue Jays who have moved 1/2 game ahead of third place Boston. The New York Yankees have all of a sudden started to play well and are now just 3.5 games back of the Red Sox and 4 games back of Toronto. The Orioles have now split their last 10 games while the Red Sox have lost three straight and 6 of 10. The Orioles were trailing the Colorado Rockies late in the game on Wednesday so there’s a very good chance that the Jays will be even closer to the division lead by Thursday morning. The Minnesota twins are going nowhere at 37-62 which is the second worst record in Major League Baseball behind the hapless Atlanta Braves. Minnesota has split their last 10 games but are 20 games out of first place and 11 games back of fourth place Kansas City in the AL Central. The Twins are just 20-30 at home but the O’s have struggled on the road with a 21-26 record.
The Orioles will start Ubaldo Jimenez who has been getting beaten like a heavy bag in a boxing gym this season. The Orioles have lost 9 of Jimenez’s 17 starts overall including 6 of 7 on the road. They’ve also lost two of his last three starts. His stat lines are ugly–for the season a 7.03 ERA and a 1.954 WHIP. On the road, his ERA is 9.00 with a 2.143 ERA which is downright Cy Young worthy compared to his last three starts. In this last three he’s got a 10.13 ERA and a 2.158 WHIP, 8 K’s with 9 BB’s and 12 ER in 19.7 innings of work. He barely made it out of the first inning in his last start as he went 1 1/3 innings allowing 5 earned on July 8 against the LA Angels. He hasn’t pitched since–he’s just returning from a 3 day paternity leave and has reportedly been working on his mechanics.
Kyle Gibson gets the start for Minnesota. The Twins have a 5-7 record overall this season including 3-4 at home. His ERA is in the mid 4’s in every situation relevant to this game. The Orioles haven’t lost to Minnesota this year and have won two games at Target Field. The market has no respect for Jimenez at this point but the O’s are still the better team.
BET BALTIMORE ORIOLES -105 OVER MINNESOTA TWINS
