Cleveland Guardians vs. Minnesota Twins May 14 Betting Preview

On Saturday, AL Central rivals will square off as the Cleveland Guardians (15-16), and Minnesota Twins (19-14) will play the second of a three-game set. The Twins will host this one at Target Field, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 pm ET.

The opener saw both offenses light up the scoreboard as the two teams combined for 20 runs. In the end, it was Minnesota prevailing 12-8.

Griffin Jax picked up the win in relief despite giving up four runs in 2.1 innings. The real story was the long ball as the Twins hit four home runs, including a grand slam from rookie Royce Lewis.

Offensively, Austin Hedges, Andres Gimenez, and Oscar Mercado all homered in the loss.

Betting Odds

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Pitching Matchup

The Guardians will send righty Shane Bieber to the mound on Saturday.

On the season, Bieber is 1-2 with a 4.13 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and has 29 strikeouts in 32.2 innings. Bieber was torched by the Blue Jays in his last start, giving up seven earned runs in just 3.1 innings.

The Twins will send lefty Devin Smeltzer to the mound to make his first start of the 2022 season. Last year, he had one appearance and gave up no runs over 4.2 innings of work.

Guardians Look To Move Back To .500

Despite sitting in second place, three games behind the Twins, the Guardians currently sit a game under .500. Not only will they look to get back to even on Saturday, but they will also look to improve on their 8-11 record.

Unfortunately, the offense took a blow on Friday as it was announced that Josh Naylor had been moved to the COVID list. This season, he is hitting .347/.377/.611 with five home runs, 22 runs batted in, and has ten runs scored.

Over the last week, second baseman Andres Gimenez has also been playing well. In that time, he is hitting .286/.348/.619 with two home runs and five runs batted in.

Against lefties, Gimenez is hitting .333/.333/.533 with a home run and three runs batted in.

Minnesota Looking For Home Cooking

Despite their struggles earlier this week, being swept by the Astros, the Twins have been rather dominant at Target Field. In fact, in their last 13 home games, they are 10-3. They will look to use that home-field advantage to secure a series win on Saturday.

Whenever Carlos Correa returns from the injured list, the Twins are going to have a tough decision on their hands. Rookie Royce Lewis has been amazing since being called up as he is hitting .320/.320/.520. He hit the first home run of his career Friday with his grand slam in the fifth inning.

Outfielder Byron Buxton is also playing like an All-Star this season. In the first inning Friday, he hit his team-leading 10th home run of the season.

He also leads the team in runs scored (19) and is second in runs batted in (18).

Can Bieber Return To Form?

Whether Cleveland can win or not Saturday may depend on which Shane Bieber the Guardians get. While he still has ace-quality stuff, he did not look the part in his last outing.

Still, it was just two starts ago that he went seven innings of one-run ball, so his last outing isn’t necessarily something to panic about.

If Bieber can contain the Twins’ offense Saturday, Cleveland should have a good chance of forcing a rubber match on Sunday.