#929/930 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Over 9.5 Runs – Chicago Cubs @ Minnesota Twins, Tuesday at 8:10 PM ET – The Cubs lineup is, of course, not what it used to be. However, the Twins pitching rotation has been depleted by injuries and Chicago can take advantage of facing John Gant here. The former Cardinals starter will be making his 3rd start since coming to Minnesota. As a result of having previously been with a division rival of the Cubs, they are familiar with him. Gant had a really rough time against the Cubs the last time when he faced them earlier this season and he did not even make it out of the 2nd inning. Also, Gant enters this start in poor current form with an 0-3 record and 9.58 ERA his last 3 starts and the last two of those have been with the Twins. Chicago starter Kyle Davies also expected to have some issues here. Davies is 2-4 with a 4.77 ERA on the road this season. He enters this start in poor current form as you can see with his last two starts even though both were at home! Davies gave up 5 homers and was lucky the damage was not worse than being charged with 6 earned runs in those 10 and 2 / 3 innings at Wrigley Field! The right-hander is facing a Twins team that has been tough on right-handed starters of late. Minnesota was shut down by the Yankees Gerrit Cole, just as most teams are. However, in their other 6 games since August 18th against right-handed starters the Twins have scored an average of 6.7 runs per game. The over went 4-1-1 in those games. The Cubs have also trended over of late with a 5-1-1 mark in their past 7 games. Chicago is off a 13-1 drubbing at the hands of the White Sox on Sunday but the Cubs scored an average of 8.2 runs a game in the 5 contests that preceded that. Last but not least, the Twins bullpen has been one of the weaker ones in MLB this season and the Cubs pen has not been much better and also has struggled on the road. This total is in the 9.5 range and our computer math model shows this one getting into a range of about a dozen runs scored with each club enjoying success at the plate and having a solid shot of getting to 5 runs apiece which, of course, would mean at least 11 runs (6-5 final at a minimum) in this one. Bet the Over