Low Scoring Affair Between Red Sox and Twins

The Red Sox have been bad pretty much all season, and the Twins are battling to win their division. After leading it for much of the year, the Twins find themselves needing to buckle down and beat these teams that are under .500. Every game matters for them. The same can't really be said about the Red Sox.

Motivation isn't the only factor at play here. The Red Sox still are evaluating their players, the pride of a competitor will still be there, and, maybe most of all, it is baseball. Anything can happen. For Boston, they send out Michael Wacha to try and stop the bleeding and avoid the series sweep. Wacha has been the one bright spot in all of the Red Sox rotation. Wacha returned this month after missing all of July and he has been very strong in his three starts. In his first two, he went 12.2 innings and allowed just six hits and no earned runs. His last start wasn't as great, but it was good. He went six strong innings and allowed four earned runs. He hasn't been as good on the road, allowing almost double the amount of earned runs on the road as at home.

Joe Ryan has been great for the Twins at home this season. In 12 starts, he has gone 67 innings and allowed just 20 earned runs. He's also rebounded after a tough June and July. In August, he has gone a much more acceptable 10 earned runs in 27.2 innings. His past two starts have been the best ones of the month as well, with both of them being six innings or more. Against Boston this season, he had one six-inning start in which he allowed just five hits and one earned run.

This game is a bit of a toss-up to me. I think Boston probably wins the game, but not enough to put any money on it. Instead, I'm going to take the under for the game. I think both pitchers will give us a couple of runs and be gone by the sixth inning or so. We should have enough wiggle room to stay under 8 for the game at -110.