The Minnesota Twins and the Oakland Athletics meet Sunday in MLB action from O.co Coliseum. This will be the finale in a three-game series. The Twins eked out a win in the opener, then on Saturday Minnesota kept it up with a high-scoring victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
Minnesota Twins
The Twins scored two in the ninth inning Friday and were able to hang on for a tense 5-4 win. On Saturday Minnesota scored six runs across the first three innings in a 10-7 win. Starting pitcher Pablo Lopez managed 5.2 innings with seven earned, eight hits and three walks.
In the starter slot Sunday the Twins are going with Joe Ryan. This year over his 18 starts Ryan is 8-6 with a 3.70 ERA and 124 Ks in 107.0 innings. Ryan is 23-15 with a 3.66 ERA in 50 career starts.
Oakland Athletics
Over on the Oakland side, they were out-hit 10-7 in the Friday game but almost tied it up in the ninth. On Saturday the A’s made a nice comeback effort with three in the fourth but ultimately couldn’t pull it off. Hogan Harris gave up five in 4.0 innings on six hits and three walks alongside five Ks.
JP Sears will take the mound for the A’s on Sunday. Over his 18 starts so far Sears is 1-6 with a 3.97 ERA and 93 Ks in 99.2 innings. Sears is 7-9 with a 3.93 ERA in 35 career games (29 starts).
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll take a stab on the A’s here, but I’m probably not touching it. Sears has been pretty good over his last two starts, giving up just one earned on seven this and three walks in 12.1 combined innings. On Saturday Oakland had a lot of pitching struggles and the offense couldn’t quite pull off the comeback bid. Still, there are some positives to take away here. The pitching definitely needs to come around in the finale in order for Oakland to have a chance to stop the sweep.