Wednesday Night Showdown: Twins @ Yankees

The Minnesota Twins make the trip to Yankee Stadium on Wednesday to take on the Yankees.  Minnesota has had a fairly disappointing beginning to their season, starting out at 8-9 after the loss again these Yankees on Tuesday night.  New York has gone 12-9 so far.

While the two teams have the same number of losses, New York has played more games due mostly to an entire Twins series against the White Sox that was cancelled due to snow.  The right handed Lance Lynn will be taking the mound for Minnesota.  Lynn has had a frustrating start to his year, going 0-1 so far and amassing a 6.00 ERA.  Another right hander, Sonny Gray, will be pitching for New York.  Gray has also had a disappointing start to his season, especially in terms of ERA.  Gray has an 8.27 ERA to go with his even 1-1 record. New York comes into this favored at -185

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Yankees’ Keys to Success

To me, there are two main keys to success for New York in this game.  First, for the Yankees to have long term success, Giancarlo Stanton has to show some plate discipline.  This need will be shown in this series against a quality right hander looking for a bounce back game like Lance Lynn.  Stanton added another pitiful 3 strikeouts in the Yankee win on Tuesday.  He did score one run after reaching on a fielder’s choice and being driven in by a Gary Sanchez home run.

The Yankees can’t depend on Didi Gregorious (batting .347) and Aaron Judge (batting .341) to provide all their consistent offense.  New York went out and got Stanton in an attempt to add more production to their lineup.  So far, he hasn’t proven he can do that. The other key for the Yankees is for Sonny Gray to have a good, bounce back game.

Twins’ Keys to Success

The number one priority for the Twins will have to be for Lance Lynn to get ahead in the count.  If he falls behind against the powerful Yankee lineup, he could be looking at some serious trouble.  Also, falling behind in the count will make his out pitch (the curve ball) have less of a purpose. Seeing the huge strikeout numbers out of the Yankee lineup (35 for Stanton, 24 for Judge), it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to expect Lynn to be striking these guys out. 

On the other hand for Minnesota, the Yankee offense looked like one of the best teams in the league in comparison to how the Twins’ lineup looked that night.  Somebody, be it Eduardo Escobar, Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier, or someone else, needs to step up for the Twins and provide some leadership within the batting order.  

Twins Top Yankees

Lance Lynn is going to have a good game against the swing-happy Yankee lineup.  First, the above strikeout numbers tell the story for Stanton and Judge, who are averaging more strikeouts than games played this season.  Gary Sanchez has been pounding the ball lately, with another multi home run game on Tuesday. Look for him to be very aggressive at the plate on Wednesday, possibly hurting himself by swinging too much.

Look for Lynn to shut the Yankees down by getting ahead in the count with his fastball and cutter, and then wiping batters out with his curveball.  Take the Twins at +155

  • Bet the Minnesota Twins +155
  • Bet on the New York Yankees -185
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