The Minnesota Twins host Cleveland tonight in a game that will be televised on FOX. The national audience will be treated to a marquee pitching matchup of José Berríos vs. Shane Bieber. Here is some information on these two starters, as well as other notes from around the league ...LAST NIGHT’S GAME RECAP

MIN 3, STL 0: Hill Pitches 5 Shutout Innings in Twins Debut

 

TODAY

Twins vs. Cleveland, 6:07 pm CT

Betting Lines: CLE -1.5, -106, 8.5 O/U

 

Twins: José Berríos, RHP

Download attachment: Berrios.png

 

Berríos had a disappointing 2020 debut, giving up five runs over four innings while striking out just one batter against the White Sox. On a positive note, he did hit 97 mph, a mark he didn’t reach all of 2019.

 

Current Cleveland hitters have a combined .207/.286/.345 line (.631 OPS) against Berríos, and José has held fellow Puerto Rico product Francisco Lindor to a .231/.286/.346 line (.632 OPS). Berríos surrendered just seven earned runs over 24 2/3 innings pitched against Cleveland last year, a 2.55 ERA, and had 26 strikeouts.

 

Cleveland: Shane Bieber, RHP

Download attachment: Bieber.png

 

Bieber ascended from relative unknown to finishing fourth in AL CY Young voting last season. The 25-year-old threw six shutout innings and struckout 14 Royals hitters in his first start of 2020.

 

 

Despite his success, current Twins hitters have an impressive .315/.364/.531 batting line (.895 OPS) against Bieber. Eddie Rosario has hit three bombas off him in 18 career plate appearances. Josh Donaldson is 2-for-2 with a pair of homers against Bieber.

 

 

LINEUP

 

— The MLB and MLBPA agreed to new sign stealing rules that grant the commissioner's office authority to impose suspensions against players and personnel.

 

— Last night, the Dodgers beat the Astros thanks to a leadoff … two-run home run(?) Sure, why not? At this point, any kind of normalcy would actually be weird in 2020.

 

In the top of the 13th inning, Edwin Rios cracked a homer with the “bonus” runner on second base. The Dodgers went on to win.

 

— Speaking of home runs, here’s what a walk off looks and sounds like in 2020, courtesy of Mike Yazstremski and the Giants:

 

 

— Nick Markakis, who originally opted out of this season, has decided to rejoin the Braves at some point.

 

 

AROUND THE AL CENTRAL

CHW 4, CLE 0

DET 5, KCR 4

 

1. MIN 4-1 (+16)

2. CLE 4-2 (+7)

2. DET 4-2 (-9)

4. CHW 2-4 (-9)

5. KCR 2-4 (-2)

 

SEE ALSO

Trevor May and the Next Adjustment

Breaking Down the 2020 Twins Walk-Up Songs

First Impressions From Each AL Central Team

 

Click here to view the article

Hope Berrios has his good stuff tonight, Indians look tough this year.

After this series our schedule gets easy for a while.

Throwing 97 isn't necessarily a good thing.   A few years ago in the 1 game playoff with NY Ervin Santana was about 4mph harder than he was all season.   Very little command and his best pitch slider didn't respond well to his  livelier arm.   Berrios performance reminded me a bit of that.   He was throwing hard but his waste pitches truly were wasted pitches cuz he wasn't even coming close to the plate.  Overthrowing fastball and curveball, imo.   Less is often more.  Ask Rich Hill.   Would be great to win the 1st game of he series.

this is what we want and need - if you can beat the good teams you can dream of a world series.  If you can only beat the mediocre teams the dream stops with a one and out.

Just my personal opinion of course, but it looks to me like the betting line is overweighting recent pitching performances. If Berrios reverts to more of what we'd expect him to be, and the Twins' lineup keeps executing like it has against most everyone - including Bieber - then I'd call the Twins slight favorites.

 

Edit: Vegas caught up. Looks like the line flipped.

 

Hope Berrios has his good stuff tonight, Indians look tough this year.

Meh, they've played KC and the apparently still not ready White Sox. Lets see how they handle our line up  

Hard to believe that Berrios is the Twins worst starter so far this year after one start each. Bieber might have had the best start of the entire MLB. Berrios needs to step up and perform. No excuses.

 

Regarding the 8 game suspension for Kelly..... good. This is ridiculous. And both teams not paying atttention to the conditions and masking and breathing all over. These are young men. Time to grow up. This is not the time to spit and spray spittle all over each other. This behavior puts the whole league and games this year in jeopardy. Seriously. I don't understand this crap. Childish. These are extraordinary times. Players need to take responsibility and man up, and not act like babies, and have these fake fights. Kudos for the Twins, and Baldelli in the dugout, for masking up. Let's get this unique season in, and not sabotage it with childish behavior. Whether you like it or not, the MLB has already decided the Astros punishments, and that is past. Every instance of purposely throwing at players and inciting rubarbs needs to be handled with a no tolerance policy. Let's get these games in.

Don't forget to join us in the game thread!

 

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/us-gdp-contracted-record-329-pace-quarter/story?id=72073336&fbclid=IwAR3nroMaIC6Tzb6WKfqfdP-K6pwEwloJjO4ob3D6a7tguPsSKPEBQ6X6wdw

"and José has held fellow Puerto Rico product Francisco Lindor to a .231/.286/.346 line (.632 OPS)"

 

You jinxed him.....