TIGERS/TWINS Over 9 +100 - The Twins? bats were silenced by the stellar Oakland pitching staff the last 2 days, but I look for them to bounce back strong and take out their recent frustrations on Maroth. After pitching decently earlier in the year, Maroth has been hit hard in his last 5 starts, pitching to a 5.87 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP over those outings. He is facing a Twins team that is averaging a potent 4.83 runs per game at home this season, with a very good team batting average of .276. After getting shut out by Mulder and Zito the last 2 days, I look for Minnesota to score early and often tonight and get into the shaky Detroit bullpen. This also bodes well for the Over, as the Tigers? pen has a group ERA of 4.94 with an unacceptable WHIP of 1.46. Granted, Reed is in excellent form for the Twins. However, since I expect Minnesota to score 6 or 7 runs by themselves tonight, I feel that Detroit is capable of scratching out the couple of runs necessary to push this game Over. This is especially true if Reed is staked to a big early lead and starts grooving some pitches, which is a distinct possibility.
