With perhaps the most frustrating road trip of their season in the rearview mirror Donte Jackson Jersey , the Minnesota Twins return home Thursday looking to get back on track in the opener of a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles at Target Field.
Minnesota went 1-8 on their I-94 excursion that began by dropping two of three to the Chicago White Sox and ended with sweeps by the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers. As a result, the Twins now sit 13 games under .500 and 12 games behind American League Central-leading Cleveland, holding down third place in the division.
r0;I think wer17;re all frustrated,r1; manager Paul Molitor said after the Brewers hit three solo home runs in a 3-2 victory over the Twins at Miller Park on Wednesday. r0;You win one game and your17;re on the road for 10 days, playing good teams.
r0;Wer17;re creating some of our own problems. At the same time, wer17;re not catching a lot of breaks. Wer17;ll get home, looking forward to that. Have a nice homestand before the break. Wer17;ll try to get these guys ready for a series with Baltimore tomorrow.r1;
The Twins will turn to Aaron Slegers (0-0, 3.38 ERA) for his first start of the season in the hopes of turning things around.
He has made just one other major league appearance this season, allowing two runs over 5 1/3 innings of relief May 30 at Kansas City. He has a 5.66 ERA in five career outings, including three starts, in the big leagues overall. Slegers has never faced Baltimore.
Like the Twins, the Orioles come into the series looking to snap out of a slump. They have lost nine of their last 10 games, including two in a row to Philadelphia this week.
Manager Buck Showalter still has confidence his team can turn things around.
r0;There are some really good people in that locker room and Ir17;d really like to see them get a return, but you canr17;t will it. You canr17;t just hope it,r1; said Showalter. r0;Itr17;s got to be one pitch at a time. You canr17;t look at the big picture.r1;
Andrew Cashner (2-8, 4.48) gets the start for Baltimore on Thursday DJ Moore Jersey , and he is looking for his first victory since May 21. He has a 3.21 ERA over his last five outings, four of which were quality starts.
Keeping the ball in the park has been a big reason for that recent run of success. Cashner had allowed 11 home runs through his first nine starts but only three over his last seven r12; and none his last time out when he held the Los Angeles Angels to a run on four hits and a pair of walks while striking out four over six innings of work.
r0;Thatr17;s what I try to do every time I take the mound, just keep the team in the game and grind it out, no matter if itr17;s pretty or ugly,r1; Cashner told the Baltimore Sun. r0;Just try to get through the seventh. Maybe next time Ir17;ll get through the seventh. I thought I got stronger as I went along. The breaking stuff was better, the offspeed was better. Something to build on as we go and keep moving forward.r1;
Cashner will be making his first career start at Target Field but is 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA in two previous starts against the Twins, who tagged him for five runs (four earned) over five innings on March 31 in Baltimore.
When a New Jersey racetrack and a casino start taking bets on sporting events Thursday, they will be part of an industry primed for tremendous growth, much of it taking place on smartphones, according to a panel of national gambling experts.
Speaking Wednesday at the east Coast Gaming Congress at Harrahr17;s casino in Atlantic City, a panel of sports betting and technology company representatives predicted the fastest-growing segment of sports betting will be bets made on smartphones as games are being played.
While bettors always will want to bet on the outcome of a game before it begins, many also want to predict particular plays or developments within a game, the panelists said.
So in addition to wagering on whether the New York Yankees would beat the Boston Red Sox, many gamblers also would want to bet on whether Yankee Aaron Judge would hit a home run just as he arrives at the plate, or how many batters Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale would strike out in a particular inning.
Such betting is the main element of growth in the European sports betting market.
r1;The growth of in-play has been a huge driver,r1; said Neale Deeley Youth Harrison Phillips Jersey , vice president of Sportradar US, a data company that works with more than 70 sports federations and leagues around the world on fraud detection, including the NBA, NHL and Major League Soccer.
r1;Mobile and in-play were absolutely made for each other,r1; added Lee Richardson, CEO of Spectrum Gaming Group, a gambling consulting firm near Atlantic City. r1;Itr17;s what customers want to do.r1;
The forum came a day before New Jerseyans were to begin placing their first legal sports bets. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy was to place the stater17;s first legal sports bet at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Monmouth Park, a horse racing track near the Jersey shore in Oceanport.
Thirty minutes later and about 70 miles to the south, Atlantic Cityr17;s Borgata casino will start taking sports bets.
No other New Jersey racetrack or casino has announced plans to begin taking bets within the next few days, although most if not all are expected to do so eventually. The Golden Nugget casino and the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, near New York City say theyr17;ll have sports betting operations up and running by the start of football season in September.
New Jerseyr17;s Division of Gaming Enforcement issued its regulations for sports betting providers Wednesday, clearing the last major obstacle for it to begin.
The state won a U.S. Supreme Court case last month clearing the way for all 50 states to offer legal sports betting if they choose.
Experts at the conference cautioned against unduly optimistic projections of sports betting revenue and tax money for states; the activity accounts for about 2 percent of Nevada casinosr17; total winnings. In New Jersey, Moodyr17;s has estimated sports betting could initially bring in $108 million, or about 4 percent of the stater17;s annual gambling revenue.
