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The Twins and Guardians square off on Tuesday with first pitch set for 1:10 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio and will be available to watch on ESPN+. Devin Smeltzer (4-1, 3.05 ERA) will start for the Twins, while Zach Plesac (2-5, 4.17 ERA) will throw for the Guardians.
Minnesota (42-33) will look for its fourth consecutive victory after crushing Cleveland 11-1 in the first game of this series last night to extend its lead to three games ahead of the Guardians atop the American League Central. Smeltzer made eight starts this season and is coming off an outing where he threw 6 scoreless innings in a victory over Cleveland. The Twins have a top-five on-base percentage (.324), and Byron Buxton has 10 more home runs than any other Minnesota hitter with 19 homers in 2022.
Cleveland (36-33) will take a five-game losing streak into Tuesday night’s matchup and was defeated by a combine score of 19-4 over its previous two games. Plesac made 13 starts this season and allowed 1 run on 3 hits over 6 innings of work in last week’s loss to the Twins. The Guardians rank 12th in runs per game (4.5), and Jose Ramirez ranks No. 3 in the league with 63 RBIs.
Twins vs. Guardians
Pitchers: Devin Smeltzer vs. Zach Plesac
First pitch: 1:10 p.m. ET
Twins local broadcast: Bally Sports North
Guardians local broadcast: Bally Sports Great Lakes
Live stream: WatchESPN, ESPN app with an ESPN+ subscription
Odds, picks & predictions
Run Line: Twins -1.5 (+140)
Run total: 8.5
Moneyline odds: Twins -115, Guardians -105
Moneyline pick: Twins -115
Let’s ride with the hot team over the club that’s in a slump. The pitching matchup favors the Twins, and they’ve been swinging the bats well recently, scoring at least 6 runs in each of their last three games. Meanwhile, the Guardians scored 3 or fewer runs in each of their five consecutive losses.
Player prop pick: Devin Smeltzer Under 2.5 strikeouts (+120)
Don’t let this low total scare you because Smeltzer is not much of a strikeout thrower with a 4.5 K/9 so far this season. He struck out 3 or fewer batters in each of his previous four starts this month and will go up against a Guardians lineup that averages the fewest number of strikeouts per game (7.0) this season.
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