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Minnesota Twins vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
A gem of a pitching match-up is set to go from the desert late Sunday afternoon when lefty Francisco Liriano leads the recently surging Minnesota Twins against righty Daniel Hudson and the streaking Arizona Diamondbacks in the finale of the weekend’s Interleague match-up.
The Twins had their three-game win streak snapped in the series opener on Friday night after losing a slugfest by an 8-7 final count. Minny came up with three runs in the top of the 9th to pull to within one run, but ultimately came up short to fall to 15-28 on the year (-$1030). Entering Game 2 of this series Saturday night, the Twins are the worst investment in the AL and sport an 11-17 record away from Target Field where they’ve cost baseball bettors just over $150 on the year. Saturday’s game pending, the Twins are 8-2 their L/10 vs. NL West opposition and 8-3 in Liriano’s L/11 interleague outings.
Don’t look now, but the D’Backs sit just two games under .500 on the year after rattling off their fourth win in a row on Friday night. In doing so, they sit just four-games off the pace set by the San Francisco Giants atop the NL West, and now find themselves in the black having made their betting backers $96 on the year. The Snakes have been at their best throughout the young season at home where they’ve posted wins on 14 of 24 occasions (+$453). The D’Backs have come out victorious seven of the l/8 times they opposed a lefty in interleague play, but stand just 8-17 their L/25 games against the AL.
Minnesota has dominated this interleague rivalry since the two franchises began locking horns back in 2003; the Twinkies have won eight of the 13 overall meetings with the ‘over’ cashing in eight of those contests. Minny’s dropped the series finale in each of their L/8 series played, but also come in 62-30 their L/92 overall interleague games played. Arizona is 6-2 in Hudson’s L/8 home starts, but a woeful 18-37 in its L/55 Game 3s played.
PICK: Minnesota/Arizona UNDER
