The Texas Rangers enter Saturday tied with the Houston Astros for 1st place in the American League West. Despite their 79-81 record Texas has a chance to make the playoffs, but the Minnesota Twins are looking to play spoiler. Minnesota is at home and given current pricing I favor them in Saturday’s game.
Bailey Ober is the scheduled starter for the Twins. Ober has made 24 appearances this season totaling 126 innings of work. His 4.21 ERA is a mediocre mark, and his 4.50 xERA is even worse. He has been in solid form of late, however, delivering 27 innings with just 8 earned runs allowed in his last 6 outings. Ober is my preferred starting option in this matchup, especially given the form of Texas at the plate against righties.
In the last 30 days against right-handed pitching the Rangers sit 29th in wOBA with a 77 wRC+.During the same sample the Twins sit 12th with a 105 wRC+. They will take on the veteran Nathan Eovaldi who has made relief outings in his last 4 outings. Eovaldi has had single inning outings his last 2 appearances, and it remains to be seen what his leash will be in this start. His 4.27 ERA is shadowed by a very similar 4.32 xERA. He lives ahead in counts with his willingness to throw strikes and ability to generate chases, but he also ranks just 23rd percentile in hard-hit rate and 30th percentile in barrel rate. I like the Twins chances of playing spoiler Saturday.
Minnesota Twins vs Texas Rangers prediction: Twins ML (+110) available at time of publishing. Playable to +105 odds.
