6/17/14
Red Sox vs. Twins
Recommendation: UNDER 8.5
I’ll start this write-up with some pretty basic facts.Tuesday’s matchup between the Red Sox and Twins features starting pitchers PhilHughes and Jon Lester. In Hughes’ last start, he went 7 strong without allowingan earned run. He did this against a Blue Jays team with an explosive offenseknown for hitting a large quantity of home runs. In Lester’s last start, hewent 7.2 an allowed only 1 earned run against the Indians. Both pitchersreceived wins. In Monday’s game between these two teams, Boston won 1-0. Aselementary as these facts may seem, sometimes not overanalyzing a play is thebest way to go. That being said, the Twins tied a season low with 3 hits inMonday’s series opener and have lost their last 3 games. Phil Hughes has been ahuge surprise for the Twinkies this year. After having what most would considera subpar career in New York, Hughes has totally revamped his career inMinnesota. He looks for his 8th win in 9 decisions today and franklyhe has never looked better. As much as Minnesota is struggling, the Red Sox arehaving some trouble offensively as well. Boston is batting .216 with a total of5 runs scored in their last 3 contests. Lester has won 3 of his last 4 starts,and despite getting lit up in his last outing, he looks like his dominant self.Basically, if the books want to give us a total of 8.5 with the current form ofthese 2 pitchers and their struggling offenses, this play is a no brainer. Takethe Red Sox-Twins UNDER 8.5.