Inside the Chalk

The New York Yankees will go for a series and season sweep of the Minnesota Twins tonight when they wrap up their 3-game set at the Stadium. The Bombers’ bats were active again last night in their 9-5 victory over Minnesota and have now outscored the Twins 28-7 over their first 5 meetings. Tonight’s expected starter for New York is Marcus Stroman and he has been dealing. Over his last 3 turns, Stroman is 2-0 with a 1.31 ERA and a hardly visible WHIP of 0.77. Minnesota is expected to counter with Pablo López and over his last 3 turns, not so good. López is 1-2 with an elevated ERA of 7.56 and a 1.44 WHIP. Numbers like that do not bode well against the lethal Yankees lineup. The Bombers are hot and clicking on every cylinder so ride them until they are not.
TONIGHT’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES

The Houston Astros are starting to click and will go for a series sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals this afternoon at Minute Maid Park. The Stros have owned the Cards, winning 4 straight and 6 of their last 7 meetings. Today’s pitching matchup definitely favors Houston. Ronel Blanco will be tapping the rubber for the Astros. He is 5-1 with a 2.44 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP. The Cardinals will send Miles Mikolas to the hill. Mikolas is 3-6 with a 5.54 ERA, a 1.32 WHIP, and he is 0-1 in his career against Houston with an ERA of 9.64.
TODAY’S PICK: HOUSTON ASTROS

After a successful 9 game road trip where they went 7-2, the New York Yankees return home tonight to the Bronx to open a 3-game set with the Minnesota Twins. To say the best team in the AL is hot would be an understatement. The Yankees have won 5 straight and 22 of their last 28. They will have the ex-Twin, Luis Gil, on the hill tonight and he has been throwing flames. Minnesota must be kicking themselves for letting this guy go. Gil is 7-1 with a 1.99 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP. The Twins have been playing well, winning 7 of their last 10, and are likely to have Bailey Ober toeing the rubber. Ober comes in at 5-3 with an elevated ERA of 4.90, a 1.11 WHIP, and Minnesota is just 1-6 in his last 7 starts against a team with a winning record. The Yankees have already swept the Twins this year in Minnesota, outscoring them 14-1 over the 3-game set, and are an impressive18-8 at The Stadium.
TONIGHT’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES

The Baltimore Orioles will take it on the arches north of the border tonight to open a 4-game set with their AL East foe, the Toronto Blue Jays. The 37-20 Orioles are 16-8 away from Birdland and are riding a 4-game road winning streak. The O’s expected starter is Grayson Rodriguez who is 5-2 with a 3.53 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. On the flip side, the 28-30 Jays are expected to send former Oriole Kevin Gauzman to the hill. He is 4-3 with a 4.14 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP which is mediocre at best, and against the AL East, Toronto is just 2-10 in Gauzman’s last 12 starts. The Orioles lost to the Rays yesterday and are not in the habit of losing two in a row. Baltimore is the better team on the field tonight and usually stick it to Toronto.
TONIGHT’S PICK: BALTIMORE ORIOLES

The Minnesota Twins and the Houston Astros will play the rubber game of their 3-game set in a matinée today at Minute Maid Park. Despite last night’s 5-2 loss, the Twins are still a respectable 16-13 on the road and will give the nod to their rookie, Simeon Woods Richardson. Over his first 40 innings in the bigs, he has proven that he belongs. Richardson is 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. The Stros, who are 15-16 at Minute Maid, will turn to Hunter Brown to throw strikes and his numbers are not good. Brown is 1-5 with a bloated ERA of 6.38, a 1.64 WHIP, and Houston has had trouble winning back-to-back games, going 0-6 in their last 6 following a win. The Twins have been playing well and depending on where you do your shopping, they are around +120 and the side to consider today.
TODAY’S PICK: MINNESOTA TWINS

The NL Central leading Milwaukee Brewers pounded the worst in the Majors, the Chicago White Sox, last night, 12-5, and I expect more of the same today when they meet again at American Family Field. With last night’s thumping, the Sox have now lost 9 straight, are a dismal 15-43 overall, and 5-22 on the road. Chicago is expected to send southpaw Garrett Crochet to the bump. Crochet has pitched well, at 5-5 with a 3.68 ERA and an excellent WHIP of only 0.93, but the Brew are 4-0 in their last 4 home games against a left-handed starter. Milwaukee averages over 5 runs per game, Christian Yelich is smoking hot, and that will be too much for Crochet to handle.
TODAY’S PICK: MILWAUKEE BREWERS

The St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies will open a 3-game set tonight at Citizens Bank Park. The Cardinals are red hot, winners of 12 of their last 15, but if anyone can slow them down it’s Philadelphia. The best team in baseball has won 6 straight at home and is 22-8 overall at Citizens Bank Park. The expected starter for the Phillies is Aaron Nola and he has been on his mark. Nola is 6-2 with a 3.04 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP, and is 7-3 in his career against the Cardinals with a 2.54 ERA. St. Louis will send Miles Mikolas to the hill. He is 3-5 with a 5.64 ERA, a 1.36 WHIP and last year he was 0-2 against Philadelphia with a 7.50 ERA. The Phillies are 8-2 in the last 10 meetings with the Cardinals and have the edge in runs scored, run differential, batting average, hits, homers, etc., etc., etc.
TONIGHT’S PICK: PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES