The Kansas City Royals (33-23) are back on top of the American League Central division after a dominant 2-0 win over the Minnesota Twins (33-25) Tuesday night, wherein Chris Young carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning. Will Edinson Volquez pick up where Young left off? Or will the Twins avoid a sweep by ending the three-game series with a victory?
Over at the NBA, the Golden State Warriors look to tie the series up against the Cleveland Cavaliers. You can click here for a full preview of that game.
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Kansas City Royals vs. Minnesota Twins Preview
Where: Target Field, Minnesota
When: Tuesday, June 10, 2015, 8:10 PM ET
Line: Kansas City Royals (-108) vs. Minnesota Twins (-102); total: 8.0– view all MLB lines
Betting on the Kansas City Royals
[sc:MLB240banner ]For the third time this season, Edinson Volquez (4-4, 3.26 ERA) will face the Twins. Volquez went 1-1 in his previous two starts opposite Minnesota, including in the Royals’ 7-1 win on April 20. Volquez was in total control in that game, allowing just an earned run on five hits in seven innings of work. The Royals are hoping that’s the kind of Volquez they’re going to see pitch tonight. And not the one that allowed four earned runs over six innings in the Royals’ 4-0 loss to Texas on June 5, Volquez’s most previous start.
In fairness to Volquez, the Royals’ offense did nothing to help him in the loss to Minnesota. With that said, the likes of Kendrys Morales and Alex Gordon will have to regain their forms after a salty seven-game stretch, wherein they hit only .200 and .100, respectively.
Thus far this season, Morales is batting .292 with seven homers and 41 RBIs. Gordon, meanwhile, owns a .263 BA.
The under is 5-0 in the Royals’ last five games overall.
Coming off a disappointing performance to start June, Kyle Gibson (4-3, 3.00 ERA) targets a bounce-back game when he takes the mound later tonight. Gibson was tagged with five earned runs on five hits during the Twins’ 10-5 loss against Milwaukee on June 5. Gibson, however, was able to strike out nine batters—a season high for the righty—and didn’t pick up a loss.
Notwithstanding that game against Milwaukee, Gibson has been a solid pitcher at Target Field this season as evidenced by his 3-1 record and 2.35 ERA in six home starts thus far this year. Later tonight, he’ll be looking to duplicate his decent outing against Kansas City in Minnesota’s 3-1 win at home back in April 15, wherein he held the Royals down to just one earned run on nine hits in six plus innings. Dating back to last season, the Twins are 6-4 in Gibson’s last 10 home starts.
Gibson aside, the Twins’ backend pitching will have to do better moving forward. Minnesota’s bullpen is among the worst in the majors. True to their bumbling form, the Twins’ relievers have given up eight earned runs in 20 innings over the last seven days. That doesn’t bode Minnesota well, as Kansas City is fourth in the majors in runs scored from the sixth to the ninth inning with a 1.95 average.
Brian Dozier is hitting well of late, going 10-for-30 over his last eight games. He’s 0-for-4 in his career against Volquez, though. Aaron Hicks, meanwhile, is 7-for-26 in his past eight games as well.
