Twins seek to sweep Tigers out of Minnesota

Baseball Betting Lines

09/02/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The American League Central-leading Minnesota Twins will continue their homestand tonight and try for a second sweep of the Detroit Tigers this season in the finale of a three-game series at Target Field.

The Twins have won five of their last six games and kicked off their nine-game residency by taking the first two portions of this set with the division-rival Tigers. They won Tuesday's series opener by a 4-3 score, then squeezed out a 2-1 win in 10 innings last night on Danny Valencia's game-winning single that plated Michael Cuddyer.

Cuddyer singled off of Tigers reliever Ryan Perry to start the inning, stole second after Delmon Young went down swinging and crossed the plate on Valencia's ensuing base hit to center.

"Great feeling. My first walk-off hit in pro baseball. It was nice to come in a situation like this," said Valencia. "We are in a pennant race. There are some teams that are right behind us."

Minnesota remained four games ahead of Chicago for the AL Central lead. The White Sox defeated Cleveland yesterday afternoon. Jose Morales was credited with an RBI in the fifth inning to get the Twins on the board, while starter Francisco Liriano struck out seven over seven shutout innings. Jon Rauch got the win for tossing a scoreless 10th inning. Liriano entered the game with a 6-0 mark and a 2.47 ERA since the All-Star break.

Scott Baker has an unbeaten streak of his own and will take the ball Thursday for the Twins. Baker is 5-0 with a 3.02 earned run average in his last seven starts -- all Minnesota wins -- and pitched in last Friday's 6-3 victory at Seattle. He allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings and struck out four, improving to 12-9 overall in 26 starts this season.

The right-hander is 1-0 in two starts against Detroit this season and 6-4 with a 4.55 ERA in 19 career starts in this series. Baker will also try to improve on his 8-3 record in 13 home starts tonight.

Detroit is fading from the playoff picture and sits 12 games behind Minnesota in the Central standings and 17 games off the wild card lead. It is 2-4 so far on a 10-game road trip after Perry surrendered the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Max Scherzer pitched nine innings and fanned nine batters in the no-decision for the Tigers, who were swept in three games by Minnesota on the road from May 3-5 at Target Field.

"It was great pitching performance by both guys. We had opportunities but we had a tough time with that," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland.

Jhonny Peralta had two hits and drove in the only run for Detroit in the eighth inning. Austin Jackson also finished with a pair of hits.

The Tigers will send All-Star pitcher Justin Verlander to the mound tonight with hopes of him salvaging this series. Verlander is 2-1 in his last three decisions, spanning four starts, and did not record a decision his last time out on Friday in Toronto.

Verlander struck out eight, allowed two runs and walked two batters over eight innings. He remained at 14-8 this season in 27 starts to go along with a 3.58 ERA. The right-hander is 1-1 in two starts against Minnesota this season and 6-7 with a 4.00 ERA over 16 starts for his career in this matchup.

Minnesota is 9-5 against Detroit this season, with a 7-1 mark as the host.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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