Bright Spot For Sonny Gray Against Yankees

Yankees vs. Twins, 7:40 ET

Monday's are always interesting to me because these are almost always games between teams that are starting the series. I'd like to think that I have a bit of insight into the mind of athletes, but in reality, I don't. I'd assume that they want to get off to a good start in these games and take the series opener. It sets you up to just need to win one of the next two in order to take a series and that should be the goal in any series.

The Yankees took the division last year, but even as early as late April, it is starting to look like they have no shot of doing that this season. Why? The Tampa Bay Rays are off to such a hot start that it will be hard for them to be caught. It is certainly possible, and the Yankees have more than enough talent to catch them. They will need to get Carlos Rodon into the rotation soon, but for now, they have Jhony Brito pitching for them. He's been unreliable at best. On the season, he has allowed 14 hits over 15 innings and nine earned runs. He was absolutely rocked by the Twins in the game they just played on April 13th. He went just two-thirds of an inning and allowed six hits and seven earned runs. He has to be looking for some revenge.

Jhony Brito takes the hill tonight for the Yankees. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images).

Sonny Gray Will Throw For Twins On Monday

Do you remember the stretch of time when Sonny Gray was on the Yankees? It was a disaster. It wasn't that he was just allowing runs - which he was - but there were talks of him seemingly throwing games or just being disinterested altogether. Once he left New York, he seemed to get back to being at the very least reliable, but maybe even a dominant start. This year has started off fantastically for him and the Twins. He currently has a 0.82 ERA over 22 innings. He has allowed just two earned runs on the season and has struck out 26 hitters. He's been good at home and on the road, he's been good against bad teams and good teams. Gray has looked phenomenal to start this season. Maybe some of the Yankees still have a grudge against him and will try to take it out on them today. However, the current Yankees are just 5-for-36 against Gray.

The way that Gray is pitching and the fact that he gets to face Jhony Brito makes me think the Twins will win this game by more than a run. Gray has been too good for the Twins. I will mention, he hasn't gotten a ton of run support. The Twins have scored just 12 runs over his four games, and are 3-1 overall. On the run line they'd be 2-2. Take them in a parlay with someone else you're comfortable with if you want, but I'm going to back them at +140 to win by -1.5.

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