The Minnesota Twins (42-37 SU, +12.74 Units) were presented with a big opportunity here just before the All-Star break.
They've got four games with the Kansas City Royals (44-32 SU, +10.96 Units), and they could really use a series win here to help cut that gap in the AL Central.
PITCHING MATCHUP
With both Yordano Ventura and Jason Vargas on the DL, Ned Yost has had to do some shuffling around of his pitching staff. Joe Blanton is the perfect man to put on the mound in this spot.
Here, we have a vet who knows what he is doing as a starter and as a reliever. He's really not capable of starting 30 games in a season any longer, but to step in and start a handful of times as a back end starter isn't the worst thing in the world.
Blanton has had a mixed bag of results thus far as a starter. He allowed just one run in five innings against the Brewers, and he followed that up with one run allowed in six frames against the Mariners. In his last start though, he allowed five runs in 2.2 innings against the Astros.
The Twins have plenty of big bats who can take advantage of walks, so as a live bettor, keep an eye on Blanton's placement of pitches. He walked four men against the Astros and was bitten badly by that. He didn't walk a batter in either of his first two starts of the year.
Mike Pelfrey was horrid in both 2013 and 2014, but all of a sudden here in 2015, he finally looks to have figured it out. We hate the fact that he allows so much contact, especially against this Kansas City lineup, but he got away with it in a big time way already once this year here at Kauffman Stadium.
The righty, in fact, had arguably his best start of the year in this building, allowing just five hits in seven shutout innings.
ADVANCED STATS
It's not often we talk about defense in this segment, but with a pitcher like Blanton on the mound for KC who allows so much contact, it's a worthy thing to point out.
No one doubted at the start of the year that this was the best defensive team in baseball, but by advanced metrics, you wouldn't believe just how much better the Royals are than anyone else in the game. UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) is one of the most used advanced stats in the game, and Kansas City's UZR is 37.3. The next closest team is Tampa Bay at 28.6. On the other end of the spectrum, San Diego and the White Sox have -34.6 UZRs.
Sure, committing 39 errors is more than you would suspect out of the team which is supposed to have the best defense in the bigs, but many of those errors are created on plays which would have been hits out of the infield anyway.
Minnesota is going to put a lot of balls on the ground in this one, and you'll be happy you knew all about Kansas City's range defensively in the infield when you live bet this game.
TALKING BULLPENS
We're a bit concerned about the Twins right now in their bullpen. This road trip has been taxing for sure, as this is the end of a stretch of 11 games in 11 days on the road.
Glen Perkins, in particular, has been called upon a ton. He has thrown 33.1 innings this year, but most notably, he is 26-of-26 in save chances.
That said, we're still a little afraid for him and his usage of late. If the opportunity to close out a game comes up, we wouldn't be afraid to take a flier on Kansas City at huge odds, even though Perkins did close out Thursday night's opener in this series with just 11 pitches.
The MLB odds for this game will be available first at BookMaker Sportsbook. Gamble on the game between every half inning with BookMaker's live betting feature. Along with an adjusted in-game moneyline, you can wager on what will happen in the next at-bat or how many runs will be scored in the next inning. Live betting is the most exciting way to play!
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