Twins vs. Cardinals prediction and odds for Tuesday, Aug. 1 (Twins snap skid)

The Minnesota Twins were on the wrong side of a sweep to the last place Kansas City Royals over the weekend, but will look to get back on track on Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals, who are selling at the trade deadline.

There's a chance that the Cardinals are down more key contributors by first pitch, but the Twins must get back to its winning ways in order to hold off the Cleveland Guardians, who are now a game back in the AL Central.

Minnesota will start Pablo Lopez on Tuesday against a formidable Cardinals lineup, who will start Miles Mikolas.

Lopez has been a positive regression candidate of late, his xERA is nearly a run lower than his actual ERA (4.13 vs. 3.27) with more than 11 strikeouts per nine innings. While allowing seven earned runs to the Athletics earlier this month is never a good sign, Lopez has allowed four total runs in the other four outings that make up his last five starts.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals are circling the drain this season, selling off key players such as Jordan Hicks, Jordan Montgomery and possibly more by Tuesday night.

The Cards are hitting at a league average rate over the last two weeks, but with a poor bullpen that is only going to be worse with the loss of Hicks, I imagine the Twins will pull away late.

I'll take Minnesota to snap its five game skid behind a strong outing from Lopez.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.