The Toronto Blue Jays and the Minnesota Twins meet Friday in MLB action from Target Field. The Blue Jays are fresh off a series versus the Rays. After losses in two of the first three games of that set, on Thursday Toronto lost by three runs. As for the Twins, they played the Giants this week and won two of three games. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays beat the Rays 20-1 in the Tuesday matchup but otherwise fell 6-4 and 7-3 in the first three games. On Thursday Toronto was down 5-1 after just three innings and limped to a 6-3 defeat. Starting pitcher Alek Manoah put up 3.0 innings with four earned on three hits and five walks.
As starter for the Friday game it’ll be the Jays’ Kevin Gausman. In his 10 starts so far Gausman is 2-3 with a 3.14 ERA and 81 Ks in 63.0 innings. Gausman is 78-85 with a 3.90 ERA in 277 career games (238 starts).
Minnesota Twins
Over on the Minnesota side, they lost to the Giants 4-1 Monday and 4-3 on Tuesday before staving off the sweep with a 7-1 win in the finale. Starter Joe Ryan went 5.0 innings with one earned on six hits and two walks in that one.
Louie Varland will take the mound for the Twins on Friday. Across five starts this year Varland is 2-0 with a 4.18 ERA and 31 Ks in 28.0 innings. Varland is 3-2 with a 4.00 ERA in 10 career games.
The Jays are 6-1 in their last six Friday games and 1-4 in their last five in game one of a series. Toronto is 8-1 in the last nine versus the AL Central.
Meanwhile, the Twins are 0-4 in their last four after an off day and 2-5 in their last seven overall. Minnesota is 0-5 in their last five in game one of a series.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll stick with the Twins in this one. Should be a pretty good starter matchup regardless, though. Varland has six combined earned runs over his last three starts with 17.1 innings, 15 hits and four walks total. He’s 2-0 in that time. As for Gausman, he’s got four earned over his last trio with 14 hits and four walks in 21.0 innings total. I like both starters to post decent lines in this one, with Minnesota eking out a victory in the end.
