Oakland Athletics vs Minnesota Twins Game 1 MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 4/20/21

The Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics meet Tuesday in game one of an MLB doubleheader at the Oakland Coliseum. 

The Minnesota Twins need a win after losing six of their last seven games. The Twins have scored eight runs in their last three games and three or less runs in five of their last seven games. The Twins have lost five straight games when scoring three or less runs. Nelson Cruz leads the Twins with 16 hits and 10 RBI while Byron Buxton and Luis Arraez have combined for 29 hits and 17 RBI. Matt Shoemaker gets the ball, and he is 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA and 12 strikeouts this season. Shoemaker is 6-3 with a 4.03 ERA and 63 strikeouts in his career against the Athletics.

The Oakland Athletics look to build on their eight-game winning streak. The Athletics have scored 13 runs in their last three games and four or more runs in seven of their last 10 games. The Athletics have won seven straight games when scoring four or more runs. Jed Lowrie leads the Athletics with 18 hits and 12 RBI while Mark Canha and Matt Olson have combined for 29 hits and 13 RBI. Jesus Luzardo gets the ball, and he is 0-1 with a 8.31 ERA and 15 strikeouts this season. This will be Luzardo’s first career game against the Twins.

The Twins are 7-3 in their last 10 opening games of a double-header and 1-5 in their last 6 vs. American League West. The Athletics are 5-0 in their last 5 home games and 41-11 in their last 52 vs. American League Central. The under is 5-1 in Athletics last 6 home games. The under is 4-1 in Twins last 5 games following an off day. The Twins are 6-22 in the last 28 meetings in Oakland and 17-36 in the last 53 meetings.

Neither of these starting pitchers are off to a great start, so you can lean in either direction in this series opener. However, the Twins enter this series not swinging the bats well and they haven’t played since Friday, which likely doesn’t help. Players usually get better with consistent reps, and not playing for several days in a row breaks any potential rhythm. Remember how we saw so many low scoring games early in the season and now things are starting to pick up? The Twins need time to break out of this funk. Oh, the A’s have also won eight straight. Give me the Athletics at home.