Minnesota Twins vs Boston Red Sox Prediction, Odds and Preview - 08/24/2021

Game Time: 7:10 pm ET, Tuesday, August 24th, 2021

Venue:  Fenway Park, Boston Massachusetts 

Where to Watch:  NESN, Bally Sports North

Twins:  54-70 (5th place AL Central)
Red Sox:  71-55 (3rd place AL East)

DraftKings:  Moneyline odds:  Twins +195, Red Sox -240; Over/Under:  10 runs

Bet365:  Moneyline odds:  Twins +200, Red Sox -220; Over/Under 10 runs

BetMGM:  Moneyline odds:  Twins +185, Red Sox -225; Over/Under 10 runs

Twins:

M. Kepler, RF
J. Polanco, 2B
J. Donaldson, DH
L. Arraez, 3B
R. Refsnyder, LF
R. Jeffers, C
N. Gordon, CF
W. Astudillo, 1B
A. Simmons, SS
K. Maeda, SP

Red Sox:

E. Hernandez, CF
K. Schwarber, LF
J. Martinez, DH
X. Bogaerts, SS
R. Devers, 3B
H. Renfroe, RF
K. Plawecki, C
A. Verdugo, LF
B. Dalbec, 1B
N. Eovaldi, SP

Twins:

Batting Average: Jorge Polanco (.273)

Hits:  Jorge Polanco (122)

Home Runs:  Jorge Polanco (22)

RBI:  Jorge Polanco (71)

Stolen Bases: Jorge Polanco (10)  ** It’s a clean sweep Jorge Polanco **

Wins:  Jose Berrios (7)

Saves:  Hansel Robles (10)

Strikeouts:  Jose Berrios (126)

Red Sox:

Batting Average:  Xander Bogaerts (.306)

Hits:  Xander Bogaerts (132)

Home Runs:  Rafael Devers (29)

RBI:  Rafael Devers (90)

Stolen Bases:  Christian Vazquez (8)

Wins:  Nathan Eovaldi (10)

Saves:  Matt Barnes (24)

ERA:  Nathan Eovaldi (3.72)

Twins:  Roccoo Baldelli
Red Sox: Alex Cora

The Minnesota Twins are 5-5 over their last ten games.  Logging 5Overs, 4 Unders and 1 push.  They got blanked by the New York Yankees 3-0, helping to extend the Yanks win streak. They took 2-1 off the Cleveland Indians, went 1-2 against the Tampa Bay Rays, and took 1 from the Chicago White Sox.

The Red Sox are 5-5 over their last ten games. 2-1 against the Texas Rangers, 0-3 against the Yankees, 3-0 against the Baltimore Orioles, and 1-0 against the Rays.  5-5 won’t help them catch back up.  They will need to turn on the Red sox offense and get everything they can from their starters if they are going to have a chance at reaching the heights of 2018 instead of the doldrums of last season.. 

The Twins are 13th in team batting average .243, 12th in runs scored 568, and 5th in home runs 175.  It helps that Jorge Polanco is doing all the heavy lifting, he’s the best in the lineup, he hits the homers, leads all of Minneapolis in steals, every offensive category.  The team's struggles might come from the fact that Jorge is 55th in the league in batting average .273.  If the guy who leads your team in every offensive category has 54 guys in the major leagues hitting better… you won’t be the hottest team.. Certainly not the best team.  The Los Angeles Dodgers had three batters hitting in the top 50 and went out and traded for a fourth!  (they got Trea Turner who is #1 on the batting average list).  Still Jorge is getting some support since the team is hitting well.

The defense on the other hand is bad.  The starting rotation and bullpen talent combine for 27th in team ERA 4.95, 22nd in strikeouts 1013, and 3rd in Runs allowed by a pitcher 658 (a whopping 658).  From the first pitch on the team’s pitching is a liability.

The Red Sox are 3rd in batting average .258 bested only by the Houston Astros and the Toronto Blue Jays.  They are 5th in runs scored 626, and 9th in home runs 160.  They are batting fantastic but it feels all for naught.  After All they did already lose the games of the season so far when they dropped a 3 game losing streak head to head with the New York Yankees.  That six game swing caused the Yankees not only to jump them in the standings but pull away.  There are six weeks left in the season and anything can happen, but it feels like this killer line-up will get shut out of the postseason in the American League.

The Red Sox pitchers are 15th in team ERA 4.27, 7th in strikeouts 1176, 16th in runs allowed by a pitcher 573.  These are good numbers too.  Not as good as the offense but respectable.  They are just inconveniently a few spots behind the Rays and Yankees in all these categories.

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The Twins will start righty Griffin Jax on the mound 3-1, 5.11 ERA, 35 strikeouts in 44 innings of work, 1.25 WHIP.  Those stats are also his career stats.  He is a 26 year old call up that is getting some MLB run.  He is pitching well. 

The Red Sox will start righty Tanner Houck 0-3, 3.12 ERA, 46 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched, 1.15 WHIP. The 25 year old was a first round pick in 2017.

These are two young guys getting work to save the arms of the starters after a long, hot, summer.  In Minnesota’s case those arms are being saved for next year or mending on the IL, in Boston’s case those arms are being rested for a final push… of course if they don’t make up ground soon that final push will do no good.  Both guys will hand off the ball to the bullpen which helps the Sox and hurts the Twins.

Our MLB Pick for Tuesday August 24th game is Red Sox 6 Twins 2

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