Minnesota Twins (35-35) PK, o/u 7 ½ at Houston Astros (37-35), 8 p.m. Eastern
by Ultimatecapper.com Staff
The Great Roger Clemens makes his return Thursday night when the Houston Astros and the Minnesota Twins tangle in the rubber match of a three-game series in Texas.
Minnesota has won eight of its last nine games to reach the .500 mark and pull into third place in the AL Central. The Twins still trail division-leading Detroit by 11 ½ games.
Houston is 6-4 over its last 10 games and sits in third place in the NL Central, six games back of division-leading St. Louis.
These teams have split the first two games of this series, Minnesota rallying to win 6-5 in extra innings on Tuesday and Houston winning 5-3 Wednesday.
The Twins are just 14-25 on the road this season, while the Astros are 25-17 at home.
Minnesota lefty Francisco Liriano (6-1, 2.16) has been wonderful since claiming a spot in the starting rotation. In six starts this season, Liriano has allowed just 6 ER and 33 H+W in 36 IP. The Twins are 5-1 in Liriano’s starts this year, the over/under a perfect 0-5.
That Clemens guy for Houston hasn’t pitched in a major league game in eight months. Last year, Clemens went 13-8 with a 1.87 (!) ERA. Clemens hasn’t pitched against Minnesota since he was a New York Yankee back in 2003.
The Twins own a .334 team OBP this season, 11th-best in the majors, and average 4.7 runs per game.
The Astros own a .333 team OBP, 14th-best in the majors, and are scoring 4.7 RPG. But that average jumps to 5.9 RPG vs. left-handed pitching.
The Minnesota bullpen has allowed just 4 ER and 9 H+W in its last 15 2/3 IP.
The Houston pen has given up 8 ER and 17 H+W in its last 12 1/3 innings of work.
The o/u is 35-32 in Twins games this year, 33-34 in Astros games and 20-20 at Minute Maid Park.
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The Ultimatecapper Pick: We are absolutely in love with Liriano and are gonna ride this horse until the bookies take notice that this guy is one of the top 5 pitchers in the major leagues!
