Wednesday night the Minnesota Twins send last year’s Cy Young Award winner LHP Johan Santana (11-9, 2.98 ERA) to the mound to face the Kansas City Royals and LHP Odalis Perez (6-10, 5.79 ERA) at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. Santana has been most effective on the road this year going 7-3 with a 2.48 ERA in 12 starts. The Twins, losers in seven of their last nine road games including Tuesday night’s 5-1 loss in the series opener, need a strong outing from Santana against the Royals winners of their last five games played at home. Perez is 2-1 with a 6.84 ERA in five career starts versus the Twins with both of those victories coming this season.
In spite of the Royals recent home winning streak, oddsmakers at online sportsbook SBG Global do not see the Twins having much problem with Santana on the mound. Minnesota is installed the favorite on the Moneyline -220 while the Royals are getting +180 juice as the home underdog. The total opened at 8.0 with a price of -110 for both the OVER and the UNDER. The Twins are also big Run-Line favorites with a -140 price tag while the Royals are getting +120.
The Twins were defeated 5-1 by the Royals last time out, as +105 underdogs. The six runs fell UNDER the posted over/under (9).Torii Hunter was 2-for-4 and drove in the only run in a losing effort for the Twins. Boof Bonser gave up nine hits and four runs over seven innings to suffer his eighth defeat.Mark Teahen was a perfect 4-for-4 with one RBI for the Royals, who won as -115 favorites. Brian Bannister improved to (8-6) with the win, allowing six hits and one run over seven innings.
Picking a clear favorite in this game is a little difficult. With the Royals hot at home and the Twins struggling on the road one might like KC but I give the advantage to the Twins taking into account Santana’s dominance over the Royals. KC might be hot but Santana has the talent to cool off any opposing hot streak. While my mind is not totally made up on the side (-220 ml is a little pricy) I like the total going UNDER 8.0 (-110). The Twins are struggling putting up runs and I don’t expect KC to get much across the plate against Santana.
Reno Goldberg’s pick: UNDER 8.0
