The Minnesota Twins will be in Arlington Wednesday night to face the Texas Rangers in a strong pitching duel. Brian Duensing of the Twins and C.J. Wilson of the Rangers have both won five decisions in a row.
The Rangers are listed as baseball money line favorites paying -150 to the Twins +130.
The Minnesota Twins (72-54, 32-32 away) will hope Duensing can deliver the goods especially after losing the first two games of the four-game series. After an 11-2 stretch from August 4 to August 18, the Twins have lost four of their last six.
The Twins have had a very strong second half of the season and have regained a comfortable lead in the AL Central. Duensing (7-1, 1.92 ERA) has been a big reason for their major league-best 26-12since the All-Star Break. The former reliever moved into the rotation earlier in the year and has proven to be a solid starter, going 5-0 with a 2.18 ERA in seven games – six starts – since the All-Star Break.
After being doubted for much of the season, the Texas Rangers (71-54, 41-23 home) appear to be the most sure bet to make the playoffs. They currently hold an 8.5 game lead over Oakland in the AL West.
Left fielder Josh Hamilton hit his 29th home run Tuesday against the Twins to move up to fourth place in the AL in home runs. He leads the majors with a .356 batting average.
Wilson (12-5, 3.02 ERA) is also a former reliever turned starter for the Rangers, and the decision to make him a starter has been a wise one. The left-hander was Texas’s closer for most of the past three seasons but has become the ace of this year’s much improved rotation. He is 5-0 in seven starts since the All-Star break and struck out a career-high 12 in 8 2/3 innings in a 2-0 win over Baltimore.
