Cincinnati Reds vs Minnesota Twins Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 04/18/26

The Cincinnati Reds grabbed Game 1 of their weekend series in Minnesota by defeating the Twins 2-1 Friday night. Both starting pitchers performed well, as did the bullpens, but Cincinnati was able to escape with a low scoring win. Saturday presents us with an interesting matchup between these teams. Taj Bradley is the scheduled starter for Minnesota in this game.  Bradley has had a very strong start to his season, tossing 21.2 innings while allowing just 3 earned runs so far. His 29 strikeouts and 0 home runs allowed are both incredibly encouraging signs, and his underlying metrics largely support his success. Look for Bradley to deliver another strong outing against a middling Reds offense.

Andrew Abbott is the scheduled starter for Cincinnati on Saturday as the southpaw hurler looks to make his 5th start of the season. Abbott has had a slow start to his 2026 campaign, allowing 13 earned runs across 14 April innings so far. With just 12 strikeouts in 20 innings total so far, Abbott has not been able to generate enough whiffs to avoid the blow-up innings. Minnesota has actually done very well against left-handed pitching so far this season, ranking 11th in wOBA with a 104 wRC+. I favor the Twins in this spot.

Minnesota Twins vs Cincinnati Reds Prediction: Twins ML (-132) available at time of publishing. Playable to -140 odds.