Minnesota Twins vs Kansas City Royals Prediction and Betting Odds August 17
Minnesota Twins vs Kansas City Royals Betting Preview
WagerTalk MLB handicapper Andy Lang offers his analysis of Wednesday’s Minnesota Twins vs Kansas City Royals clash at Target Field. The Twins sit only one game back of the AL Central lead as these two teams will play six more times in September after today’s contest.
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| Wednesday, August 17 | MLB Betting Notes, Courtesy of Caesars |
|---|---|
| Moneyline: | Minnesota Twins -195 vs Kansas City Royals +162 |
| Runline: | Twins -1.5 (+110) / Royals +1.5 (-130) |
| Total: | 8.5 Runs (Over +100 / Under -120) |
| Game Time: | 1:10pm ET / 10:10am PT |
| Where: | Target Field in Minneapolis, MN |
| Weather: | 70 Degrees / 30-50% Chance of Rain |
Minnesota Twins vs Kansas City Royals Analysis
The Minnesota Twins will be looking for a three game sweep over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday afternoon from Target Field.
The Royals were blanked 9-0 last night after losing the first game of the series 4-2. The Twins will finish up their home stand this weekend against the Texas Rangers, while the Royals remain on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The newly acquired Tyler Mahle will make the start for Minnesota, while the young lefty Daniel Lynch toes the rubber for Kansas City. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM EST/10:10 PST.
Twins Bring Brooms To Target Field
The Minnesota Twins continued their domination of the Kansas City Royals with a 9-0 shutout last night. Third baseman Gio Urshela went 4 for 5 with two RBI and Luis Arraez went went 3 for 5 with an RBI double from the leadoff spot.
Sonny Gray tossed six scoreless innings while allowing only three hits and striking out ten. Three bullpen arms covered a scoreless inning each to secure the victory.
The Twins will be looking to complete a three game sweep over Kansas City, they have an 8-4 edge on the head-to-head season series. At 60-55, Minnesota currently sits one behind the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central and one game shy of the third and final Wild Card spot.
Tyler Mahle will be making his third start as a Minnesota Twin since being acquired at the trade deadline. In his two outings with Minnesota he has a 1-0 record with a 3.00 ERA and 11 strikeouts across 12 innings. He is 6-7 with a 4.26 ERA on the season.
Never Be Royal
The Kansas City Royals record fell to 48-70 on the season after getting embarrassed in a 9-0 drubbing against the Minnesota Twins last night. They had no extra-base hits and Vinny Pasquantino was the only player with multiple hits as he singled twice.
Zack Greinke let things slip away late and ended with three runs allowed on nine hits across six innings. He took the loss but relievers Wyatt Mills and Luke Weaver were assaulted for three runs each.
Kansas City has dropped 8 of 12 against the Minnesota Twins this season. The Royals fought hard since the deadline but trading away Andrew Benintendi and Whit Merrifield may be catching up with them. This is an offense that ranked 24th in runs scored with those two players around after all.
The 25 year-old southpaw Daniel Lynch will take the bump on Wednesday afternoon. He is 4-7 on the season with a 4.52 ERA and 1.51 WHIP.
He has done well in his three outings against Minnesota this season, going 1-1 with six runs allowed across 14 innings of work. His underlying numbers are concerning as he has an xERA of 6.31 and an xWOBA of .376.
Minnesota Twins vs Kansas City Royals Prediction
The Minnesota Twins enter this contest as favorites with a money line set at -180, while the Kansas City Royals sit at +155 with a total of 8.
Tyler Mahle and Daniel Lynch have both been outstanding since the All-Star break as Mahle is 3-0 with a 3.38 ERA across four starts while Lynch is 1-0 with a 2.20 ERA in three starts.
The Royals have only scored eight runs in their last five games and they are bottom of the barrel in scoring. Lynch has had the Twins number and Minnesota ranks middle of the pack against lefties in July and August.
The under has cashed in six of the last eight Royal games as well as three of the last four Twins games. The only issue with taking the full game under here is lack of faith in the bullpens, especially the horrendous KC pen.
Let’s roll with under 4.5 in the first five innings, if they have 5+ runs after five innings I wouldn’t be comfortable with an under 8 anyway.
Prediction: Under 4.5 F5 -110 (first five innings)
First Pitch | MLB Predictions for Wednesday, August 17
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WagerTalk’s Live Odds Screen features up-to-the-minute lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books. Track the MLB moneylines, run lines and betting percentages for all of Wednesday’s baseball games, including this Minnesota Twins vs Kansas City Royals showdown, from your desktop or phone.
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Meet the Author
Andy Lang has lived in Indianapolis his whole life, and like most people from the Hoosier State, he became fascinated with motor sports. That interest in motor sports turned into a desire to make money off the sport through fantasy contests and sports betting. Like most, he took his lumps when he first got started, but now he is one of the most respected NASCAR bettors in the industry. Andy has expanded that sports betting experience to become profitable in a number of other sports, transforming this interest from a side hobby to a major source of income.
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