Even Money – Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles

Minnesota Twins (13-15) at Baltimore Orioles (11-17)

BetOnline MLB betting odds: Orioles -120, Twins +100, Total 10.5

Right-handers will go to the mound on this Thursday night, as Glen Perkins of the Twins (1-2, 3.34 ERA) opposes Brad Bergesen (1-0, 5.17 ERA) of the Orioles.

Here are some of the MLB Baseball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* MINN has lost 14 of its last 20 road games

* BALT has lost seven of its last nine games

* BALT has lost five of its last seven home games

* BALT has played six of its last eight home games UNDER the total

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD MLB betting trends:

* MINN has won 12 of the last 16 meetings

* MINN has won eight of the last ten meetings as the road team

Minnesota had been without Joe Mauer for most of the season and that was one of the reasons the Twins have averaged only 4.4 runs a game, which is 12th in the American League. Mauer has returned from injury, however, and in his first five games back he was hitting .412 with a homer and three RBI’s. Baltimore has a little more success scoring runs, but their problem is preventing them. The Orioles have allowed 6.33 runs per game, which is next to last in the AL.

Glen Perkins is a Minnesota guy through and through. He is a native of the state, and played his college ball at the University of Minnesota, before being taken in the first round of the 2004 draft by the hometown Twins. He had a good season last year, going 12-4 with a 4.41 ERA.

That having been said, his ventures against the Orioles have thus far not been too successful. Last year he made two starts against them, and allowed ten runs in seven innings, getting yanked early in both of those games. Perkins started pretty strong this season; he went eight innings in each of his first three starts, and allowed only four earned runs over that time. He wasn’t so strong on April 26 against Cleveland, where the Indians scored four times in five innings in a 4-2 win, and in his last outing five days ago, he surrendered five runs in six innings to the Royals, who went on to win by a 10-7 score.

Brad Bergesen also went in that 2004 draft, in the fourth round to the Orioles. Last season he blew away Eastern League hitters, registering a 15-6 record and 3.22 ERA. He has pitched only three games in the major leagues. The first start, which took place on April 21, he gave up one earned run (three total) in 5-2/3 innings against the White Sox, but was touched up a bit five days later by Texas, who gathered five runs and ten hits in four innings. Bergesen regrouped a bit in his last start, holding Toronto, which leads the league in batting average, to three runs in six innings. Bergesen is generally known as a pitcher who doesn’t throw all that hard, but can rely on decent control.

That’s all well and good, but we can’t bring ourselves to move with an inexperienced pitcher and a team that has not generated much home field advantage to speak of thus far. We’re going to side with the Twins, the even money underdog in the BetOnline American League baseball betting odds.

JAY’S PLAY: MINNESOTA (Even) **

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)