Free Pick | MLB | Friday | June 2

Nelly’s went 2-0 last night with another NBA Playoff winner (13-5 run) and a 1-0 start in June MLB. We went 2-1 Wednesday in our last 2/3 offer and we have 2/3 in MLB for Friday night baseball with a total and two sides!

#969/970 OVER 8.5 Cleveland Guardians (Civale) at Minnesota Twins (Ober) 7:10 PM CT

There were 19 hits and 13 runs last night between the Guardians and the Twins. Minnesota hit two home runs even with a wind blowing in and extremely warm conditions in Minneapolis are scheduled again Friday night. There is a chance a weather delay at some point with some possible pop-up storms that could present some challenges for the pitching staffs. Aaron Civale hasn’t pitched since early April with an oblique injury and it seems unlikely he’ll be pushed to a high pitch count tonight. The Guardians have received only one starting effort of more than five innings in the past five games as the bullpen has been strained, now playing on an eighth consecutive day. Cleveland has good bullpen options but lost last night’s game with four runs allowed in the eighth and ninth inning as Emmanuel Clase was unavailable after pitching in back-to-back games. He could be on the mound tonight but the unit has been heavily worked of late. Injuries have tightened the bullpen options for the Twins as well and Bailey Ober has a FIP much higher than his ERA as he has had some good fortune in 40 innings in 2023. He has a .257 BABIP and a 79 percent strand rate, both figures that will be tough to maintain. After allowing 10 hits and two runs in his first three starts of the season, Ober has allowed 20 hits and 10 runs in his last four starts and he actually has significantly worse numbers at home this season. In the past five games Cleveland is batting .305 with 6.5 runs per nine while Minnesota is hitting .260 with 4.6 runs per nine as the offenses have more potential than the reputations suggest.