Twins and Rays meet, winner takes 3-game series
Tampa Bay Rays (35-39, fourth in the AL East) vs. Minnesota Twins (41-33, second in the AL Central)
Minneapolis; Thursday, 1:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Rays: Zack Littell (2-5, 4.24 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 71 strikeouts); Twins: Simeon Woods Richardson (2-1, 3.29 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 46 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Twins -129, Rays +109; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays meet on Thursday with the winner claiming the three-game series.
Minnesota has gone 23-15 at home and 41-33 overall. The Twins are 29-4 in games when they scored five or more runs.
Tampa Bay has gone 16-16 in road games and 35-39 overall. The Rays have gone 14-3 in games when they did not give up a home run.
Thursday's game is the third time these teams match up this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Carlos Correa has eight home runs, 23 walks and 35 RBI while hitting .310 for the Twins. Royce Lewis is 15-for-39 with two doubles, five home runs and nine RBI over the past 10 games.
Isaac Paredes leads Tampa Bay with 11 home runs while slugging .475. Brandon Lowe is 8-for-37 with three home runs and six RBI over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Twins: 8-2, .337 batting average, 3.87 ERA, outscored opponents by 28 runs
Rays: 4-6, .216 batting average, 5.00 ERA, outscored by 16 runs
INJURIES: Twins: Alex Kirilloff: 10-Day IL (back), Justin Topa: 60-Day IL (knee), Brock Stewart: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Daniel Duarte: 60-Day IL (tricep), Zack Weiss: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Anthony DeSclafani: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Rays: Richard Lovelady: 15-Day IL (forearm), Jacob Waguespack: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Jeffrey Springs: 60-Day IL (elbow), Drew Rasmussen: 60-Day IL (elbow), Shane McClanahan: 60-Day IL (forearm)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.