Baseball Betting: Cleveland Indians at Minnesota Twins
Posted On Monday, July 19th, 2010 By admin
The Cleveland Indians look to extend their four-game winning streak as they visit the Minnesota Twins in the first game of three between these AL central rivals.
The Cleveland Indians (38-54, 17-32 away) have disappointed through the first half of the season and sit last in the AL Central with some of the worst hitting and pitching numbers in the league.
Their first series back from the All-Star break has given them some cause for hope sweeping the Tigers in a four-game series. The sweep wasn’t enough to move them up the standings, but they looked better than they have at any time in the season.
While the Indians were sweeping the second team in the division, the Minnesota Twins (49-43, 29-18 home) were doing themselves a favor by taking three of four from the division-leading Chi-Sox and are now just a game and a half back.
Starting for the Twins will be Scott Baker (7-8, 4.87 ERA). Heading in to the All-Star break, the right-hander was hampered by an elbow injury that caused him to lose three of four starts while posting a 6.56 ERA. Twins backers are no doubt betting on the All-Star break being enough to heal the damage and help him get back to the form that saw him go 4-0 last season against the Indians with a 1.57 ERA.
On the mound for the Indians will be Aaron Laffey (1-3, 5.12 ERA). The left-hander was called up from the minors on June 25 and has had four starts going 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA. Laffey has eight career starts versus the Twins and is 4-2 with a 4.70 ERA.
