MLB Free Premium Play 08/22: Minnesota Twins @ Oakland Athletics

Minnesota  at Oakland

MLB - 969 Minnesota Twins @ 970 Oakland Athletics (Starting Pitchers: L. Hendriks vs T. Milone) Minnesota will be starting Hendriks today, who was recalled from Triple-A in a perhaps last chance to stay in the Twins rotation. He was dominant at Triple-A with a 2.20 ERA and a 82/28 K/BB ratio in 106.1 IP. However, he struggled in the majors previously on this season with a 7.04 ERA and a 23/10 K/BB ratio in 38.1 IP. Still, he was a bit unlucky because he almost exclusively faced top teams during his MLB starts this season: TEX, @ TB, BOS, @ LAA, MIL, @PIT, CWS and @ DET! His xFIP of 4.75 is clearly much lower than his 7.04 ERA and with Hendriks being highly motivated on his very important game for this future, I believe Minnesota's SP will have a good outing today. On the other hand, I actually expect Milone to struggle, as it has been happening lately. He is now 0-3 with a 7.50 ERA on his last four starts, while giving up 21 runs in 24 innings. He is coming from an outing where he allowed four runs and six hits against the lowly Indians at home and he needed good run support to not lose that game. Due to three very poor starts, he had 10 days to rest before his outing against Cleveland, where he did okay, but now he had just 4 days rest for this contest and looking at the fact that Minnesota is a top 10 hitting team against LH pitchers and Milone isn't a good pitcher on day games (5.68 ERA), I expect Minnesota to put Milone in trouble today. With Hendricks pitching better today than he did for most of the season in the majors and with Milone struggling, I expect the Twins to make this game at least very competitive and therefore, I'll be taking them in here on a RL +1. NOTE: Also available on 5Dimes at +105 / 2.05 Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 969 Minnesota Twins RL +1 (w/ L. Hendriks) @ +108 / 2.08 on Pinnacle