Thursday, September 4, 2014

Target Field in Minneapolis

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Target Field will be the home to a game Thursday evening between the Los Angeles Angels and the Minnesota Twins. The visiting team is currently sitting in first place of the American League West, while the home team is currently in last place of the AL Central. Getting the ball for the Angels will be left-hander Hector Santiago (4-7), who will face off against right-hander Kyle Gibson (11-10).

This will be the 20^th start of the season for Santiago and 25^th overall appearance. He currently has a 3.28 ERA and has been one of the better pitchers on the Los Angeles roster since the start of June. When the month of June began, he was 0-6 with a 4.82 ERA. All he has done since is win 4 of his next 5 decisions and watch his ERA drop more than 1.50 points. In 5 August starts, he was just 1-0, but had a 1.93 ERA with 23 strikeouts and 11 walks. In his career against the current Minnesota roster, he has allowed 15 hits in 50 at-bats with 3 total home runs allowed.

For the last place Twins, second-year pitcher Gibson has pitched well for most of the season. His ERA is at 4.23 and he doesn't strike out a lot of batters (just 89 in 149 innings). His biggest issue during the season has been his consistency. In his past 10 starts, he has had 5 starts with at least 5 earned runs allowed and in the other 5 starts, has only given up 5 total earned runs.

Los Angeles Angels Betting Trends

Los Angeles Angels are 65-67-5 against the Over/Under

Run Differential for Los Angeles Angels is 0.8

Minnesota Twins Betting Trends

Minnesota Twins are 71-62-5 against the Over/Under

Run differential for Minnesota Twins is -0.4

Injuries to Watch

Los Angeles Angels

08/22/14 P Garrett Richards Knee 60-day DL (8/21), out for season
08/03/14 P Joe Thatcher Ankle 15-day DL (8/3)
08/01/14 P Tyler Skaggs Forearm 60-day DL (7/31), out for season
05/28/14 P Sean Burnett Elbow 15-day DL (5/29), out for season
05/12/14 3B Ian Stewart Hand 15-day DL (5/11)
04/17/14 P Ryan Brasier Elbow 60-day DL (3/21)
03/30/14 P Brian Moran Elbow 60-day DL (3/21)

Minnesota Twins

Date Pos Player Injury Status
08/25/14 P Yohan Pino Elbow out indefinitely
05/03/14 P Mike Pelfrey Groin 60-day DL (5/1)

Guy's Pick: Take Los Angeles

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