The Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers both find themselves chasing the Kansas City Royals in the American League Central standings heading into the series opener of a three-game set at Comerica Park Tuesday.
The Tigers are the 7-2 second choice on the odds to win the AL pennant and just dropped two of three games at home to the Royals, who are favored to win their second straight American League title at 13-4 odds.
The Twins have also jumped into the race for the division title after winning eight of their last 10 games, and they saw their three-game winning streak come to an end Sunday. They trail Kansas City by 2.5 games for the AL Central lead heading into the week and are at 28-1 to win the pennant.
However, Minnesota has lost six of the last seven meetings with Detroit, according to the Odds Shark MLB database, including five of six in the first month of the season.
The Tigers have averaged seven runs a game over the past five meetings between the teams, three of which ended up finishing over the total for bettors. However, they have averaged half of that (3.5 runs per game) in their last four games overall, scoring just four combined runs in losing to the Royals on Saturday and Sunday.
Detroit will send the struggling Alfredo Simon (4-1, 3.44 ERA) to the hill Tuesday for its matchup with the Twins, hoping to end the two-game skid although the team has also dropped each of his last two starts.
Simon has surrendered nine runs and 14 hits in just over nine innings combined over two road starts against Kansas City and the Chicago White Sox, walking six and striking out eight. The over cashed in both of those outings, but the under is 2-0 in his two home starts this year.
The Twins will counter on Tuesday with Kyle Gibson (3-2, 2.97), who has seen his team win in each of his previous three trips to the mound. In fact, Gibson has not allowed a run in either of his past two starts, scattering eight hits over 14 innings in home wins over the White Sox and the Oakland Athletics by a combined score of 14-0.
The under is 4-1-1 on the baseball betting lines in Gibson's six starts overall this season although the lone over cashed last time out in a 13-0 victory against the A's last Wednesday.
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