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The Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians battled for the AL Central title last season, and it appears they will do so again in this coronavirus-shortened campaign. The teams play Game 2 of their series in Cleveland on Tuesday night Tribe ace Shane Bieber on the mound. Cleveland will be a sizable MLB betting favorite.

How to Bet Twins at Indians MLB Odds & TV Info

When: Tuesday, 7:10 PM ET
Where: Progressive Field
Probable pitchers (away/home): Rich Hill/Shane Bieber
TV: MLB Extra Innings
Stream/gameday audio: https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/
Opening MLB Lines: TBA

Why Bet on Minnesota?

The Twins won another series over the weekend, taking two of three in Kansas City. Nelson Cruz crushed his 10th home run of the season on Sunday. He hit a solo shot off of Royals’ closer Trevor Rosenthal with two outs in the ninth inning to provide an extra insurance run. He also had an infield hit and a pair of walks in the game. Cruz is having another outstanding season at the dish, slashing .343/.435/.687 with 10 homers and 26 RBI.

Initial imaging on Tyler Clippard’s right elbow turned up negative for any structural damage. The reliever took a comebacker off his pitching elbow while making an appearance Sunday. He likely will be out a few days.

Catcher Mitch Garver and third baseman Josh Donaldson are both on the injured list. Garver is dealing with a right intercostal strain and won’t be back for at least another week. Donaldson has been sidelined since the first week of August because of a strained right calf.

It’s lefty Rich Hill (1-1, 4.70) here. Hill gave up four runs in 2 2/3 innings Wednesday against the Brewers in his return from the injured list. Hill walked three and gave up four hits, including a homer, so the damage to his ERA could have been worse. Caleb Theilbar stranded both runners he inherited after coming in during the third.

Shoulder fatigue pushed Hill to the injured list after one start. The Twins were hoping he could give them some length despite the missed time but Hill couldn’t do so. “It was just a poor outing,” Hill said. “Unfortunately, I put us in a really bad position today and lost the game for us.”

He’s in line to make an extra $1 million if he makes five starts, and an additional $1 million with seven. He won his first start with five scoreless innings in a 3-0 victory over St. Louis on July 29 but was placed on the injured list with shoulder fatigue on Aug. 4.

Why Bet on Cleveland?

The Tribe lost two of three at home vs. the Tigers over the weekend. On Saturday, Triston McKenzie was fantastic in his major league debut, striking out 10 batters while holding the Tigers to one run on just two hits and one walk in the Indians’ 6-1 win. McKenzie became just the eighth Major League pitcher since 1893 to record 10 strikeouts while allowing two-or-fewer hits in his MLB debut. McKenzie became the first Cleveland pitcher and 8th overall MLB starter (since 1893) to have 10+ SO and allow 2-or-fewer hits in an MLB debut.

Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said Sunday that he expects McKenzie to make another start. The club had little choice but to give him another shot.

Tribe pitching leads MLB in shutouts (5), SO/BB ratio (4.74), WHIP (1.00) and strikeouts. It ranks second in ERA (2.73) and SO/9 (10.79). Cleveland has had 7 games where starters have posted a double-digit strikeout performance, the most in MLB ahead. It matches the 2nd-most games at this point in the season since 1980 tied with Houston in 2018 and behind Arizona in 2001.

Tribe ace Shane Bieber (5-0, 1.11) takes the mound here. He fanned 11 again Thursday while throwing six scoreless innings in the Indians’ 2-0 win over the Pirates. The Indians racked up 16 strikeouts overall. It was Bieber’s second start in a row with 11 strikeouts, and he’s essentially averaging that many per start this year.

The right-hander remains on a Cy Young trajectory. Bieber has fanned double-digit batters in four of his six starts this year — joining Cleveland legends Bob Feller and Sam McDowell as the only pitchers in franchise history to begin a season with that kind of strikeout binge

Bieber has 65 strikeouts through his first 6 starts this season. That’s the 4th most strikeouts through a pitcher’s first 6 starts in the Modern Era (since 1900). He trails: Nolan Ryan — 71 (1978); Pedro Martínez — 67 (2000); and Pedro Martínez — 66 (2001).

Expert Prediction Indians 4, Twins 1