Picks, predictions for Twins vs. Marlins on Wednesday, April 5th

Yesterday, Miami Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara turned in the outing of the year (so far) when he needed only 100 pitches to shut out the Minnesota Twins. Now his Marlins will look to make it two wins in a row when they take on the Twins in the rubber match of their three game series. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. ET.

The Twins are -120 favorites on the moneyline at DraftKings Sportsbook, while the Marlins are slight underdogs at +100. The total is set at 7.

Twins-Marlins picks: Wednesday, April 5th

Injury report

Twins

Day to day: OF Max Kepler (right knee tendinitis)
Out: 2B Jorge Polanco (left knee tendinitis), 1B/OF Alex Kirilloff (right wrist surgery), RP Josh Winder (right shoulder soreness), SP Ronny Henriquez (sore elbow), OF Gilberto Celestino (ruptured UCL in thumb). SP Chris Paddack (Tommy John), SS Royce Lewis (partially torn ACL)

Marlins

Out: RP Steven Okert (left adductor strain), RP Tommy Nance (right shoulder sprain), RP Nic Enright (Hodgkin’s lymphoma), SP Max Meyer (Tommy John), RP Anthony Bender (Tommy John), SP Johnny Cueto (right biceps tightness), INF Joey Wendle (right intercostal strain)

Starting pitchers

Pablo Lopez vs. Jesus Luzardo

Today’s start will be a homecoming for Lopez, who spent five seasons with the Marlins before being traded to the Twins in the offseason in exchange for Luis Arraez. Lopez is coming off a grand start to his Minnesota Twins tenure, as the 27-year-old opened his season with 5 1/3 scoreless innings against the Royals. He has a career 3.50 ERA across 50 starts at loanDepot Park.

Like Lopez, Luzardo is coming off a strong season-opening start, as he scattered two hits across 5 2/3 innings against the Mets last week. Luzardo tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings in his only career start against the Twins.

Over/Under pick

Going with the trends here and taking the under. Both lineups have a team OPS under .700, and the Marlins lead all of baseball with 64 strikeouts. Lopez and Luzardo both looked strong in their season-opening starts, and I’m expecting them to cruise against two lineups still trying to figure things out.

Pick: Under 7

Moneyline pick

After getting shut out yesterday, the Twins should get back in the win column today. While Joey Gallo (three home runs this season) isn’t in today’s lineup, the Twins offense still has enough firepower to scratch a couple runs across the plate. That should be more than enough run support for Lopez, who will be looking to make a statement against his former team.

Pick: Twins