Minnesota Twins vs Cleveland Indians MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 8/17/2021

The Cleveland Indians and the Minnesota Twins meet in an AL Central division matchup in MLB action from Target Field on Tuesday night.

The Cleveland Indians will look to bounce back from a 5-4 loss at the hands of the Twins on Monday. Bradley Zimmer led the charge with a two-run home run while Austin Hedges had a double with an RBI and Jose Ramirez added an RBI as well to finish off Cleveland’s scoring as a team in the loss. Amed Rosario went 2 for 5 with a double while Andres Gimenez and Myles Straw each had a base hit to finish off the Tribe’s offense as a team in the losing effort. Cal Quantrill allowed three runs on eight hits while striking out four over five innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Nick Wittgren ended up with the loss in relief to fall to 2-6 on the year as a result. Eli Morgan will start here and is 1-5 with a 6.52 ERA and 46 strikeouts this season.

The Minnesota Twins will try to build off of Monday’s victory with another solid performance on Tuesday. Max Kepler led the way with two RBIs including a solo home run while Ryan Jeffers had a solo home run. Jorge Polanco had two hits with an RBI and a double and Josh Donaldson added three hits with an RBI as well to finish off the scoring for the Twins in the victory. Jake Cave and Mitch Garver each had a double while Luis Arraez had two hits. Brent Rooker, Miguel Sano and Nick Gordon each had hits as well to finish off Minnesota’s offense as a team in the winning effort. Griffin Jax allowed four runs, two earned, on seven hits while striking out three over six innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Caleb Thielbar got the win in relief to improve his record to 5-0 on the year. Bailey Ober will start here and is 1-1 with a 4.53 ERA and 62 strikeouts this season.

Cleveland is 0-5 in their last 5 Tuesday games and 0-4 in their last 4 game two matchups while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games against a right-handed starter. Minnesota is 4-1 in their last 5 home games and 3-9 in their last 12 games as a favorite while the over is 14-3 in their last 17 Tuesday games.

I think that Cleveland’s performance on Monday summarized where this team is headed. The Tribe had their chances, but lost a game that in my opinion, they needed to win to start making any sort of comeback in the division or wild card race. Now, the Tribe send Eli Morgan to the mound who has been a run producer for the other team this season. On the other hand, I’m not rushing to back the Twins with Bailey Ober on the bump. Instead, I’m backing the over as I’m expecting runs to come in bunches once again.