This is simple: The Twins feast on NL competition and they have Kevin Slowey on the Busch Stadium hill today. Minnesota is the play in the second game of their series at St. Louis.
The St. Louis Cardinals are hosting a three-game interleague set against the Minnesota Twins at Busch Stadium this weekend. The Cards lost Game 1 to the Twins on Friday night 3-1 and will want to bounce back from that loss though that may be too tall an order on Saturday.
St. Louis is facing a Twins team that is 53-18 their last 71 interleague games overall. The Twins are 26-7 their last 33 interleague games versus teams with a winning record, including 8-2 on the road in that situation.
More bad news for the Cards as the Twins will send righthander Kevin Slowey to the bump who is a perfect 7-0 his last seven interleague starts and 10-2 overall on the season. Minnesota’s bullpen has also been solid on the highway with eight chances and seven saves for 87.5 percent with an ERA of 3.06 and a WHIP of 1.149.
The Cards will counter with Todd Wellemeyer who has a record of 6-7 on the season with an ERA of 5.53 and a WHIP of 1.645. When Wellemeyer takes this hill at home his record is 3-5 with an ERA of 5.47 and a WHIP of 1.627. St. Louis is 1-6 their last seven when Wellemeyer is installed as a home underdog and 1-6 when he takes the hill after the team has suffered a loss in their last game.
Our TPR (Team Performance Ratings) Index projects a Twins win on Saturday by 1.6 runs and our Math Model also favors the visitor with a two run victory. So lay the short price with the Twins as they grab the second game of this three-game set to ensure a series win.
Projected Final Score: Minnesota-5 St. Louis-3
Free Pick: Twins -110