Game 1 of a doubleheader in a four-game weekend series between the top 2 teams in the AL Central will take place on Friday afternoon when the Cleveland Guardians travel to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to face the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. The game starts at 2:10 PM ET and will air on the MLB Network, Bally Sports Great Lakes, and Bally Sports North.
The Cleveland Guardians have the best record in the American League and are in 1st place in the AL Central with a 3.5-game lead over the Minnesota Twins for 1st place in the division.
However, the Guardians have struggled to start the month of August as they have compiled a record of 2-5 this month and are on a five-game losing streak following a 0-3 series sweep at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks, which ended with a 3-5 loss in Game 3 of the series on Wednesday.
Carlos Carrasco's struggles this season continued in his start in Game 3 of the series against the Diamondbacks as he pitched 4 ? innings, allowing four runs while recording five strikeouts, which resulted in his 10th loss of the season and dropped his record to 3-10 on the year while Jose Ramirez and David Fry accounted for two of the three runs for Cleveland as both hit one-run home runs in the loss.
Cleveland has won six straight games in the series against the Minnesota Twins and has outscored the Twins by an average of 4.67 to 2 runs per game in those matchups. The Cleveland Guardians will look to end their five-game losing streak and extend their winning streak in the series to seven games when they travel to face the Minnesota Twins for Game 1.
The Minnesota Twins enter the series against the Cleveland Guardians following a 1-2 series loss on the road against the Chicago Cubs after losing Game 2 by a score of 3-7 and Game 3 on Wednesday by 2-8. However, the Twins have won five of their previous seven games and are 13 games above .500 at 63-50, which puts them in 2nd place in the AL Central, 3.5 games behind the Cleveland Guardians for 1st place in the division, and in the 2nd Wild Card spot in the American League.
Game 3 of their series against Chicago resulted in a 2-8 on Wednesday, which also resulted in the Twins losing Joe Ryan to a triceps injury after he pitched 2 innings, allowing one run and recording two strikeouts. In contrast, the two runs for the Twins were scored in back-to-back innings in the 1st and 2nd inning, which included Matt Walner hitting a double which scored Trevor Larnach.
Minnesota has lost six straight and eight of the previous ten games in the series against Cleveland while having been outscored by the Guardians by an average of 4.4 to 4.6 runs per game in those meetings. The Minnesota Twins will look to end their losing streak in the series when they host the Cleveland Guardians for Game 1 on Friday afternoon.
WagerWeb lists the Minnesota Twins as -138 moneyline favorites at home against the Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the series on Friday afternoon. Cleveland has won eight of the last ten meetings by an average margin of .2 runs per game and has won all five meetings this season against the Twins while having outscored Minnesota this season by an average of 5.2 to 2.2 runs per game in those contests.
Cleveland has dominated the series this season, compiling a record of 5-0 against Minnesota while outscoring the Twins by an average of 3 runs per game. The Guardians have also won four of their last five divisional games this season, so I am taking the moneyline for the Cleveland Guardians when they travel to face the Minnesota Twins for Game 1 of the series on Friday afternoon.
