Twins vs. White Sox prediction and odds for Wednesday, May 3 (Trust Cease)

It's been a tough season for the Chicago White Sox, who are 9-21 on the year and heading for a long season admist countless injuries.

However, the team will lean on its ace, Dylan Cease, to put together a strong outing against the first place Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night at home. Cease will face Louie Varland of the Twins, who is still looking to find his big league form in just a few appearances dating back to last season.

Cease should put on a show early and often during his start. The Twins offense is hitting just .232 as a group this season and is striking out at a top five clip, over 25%. The right hander is striking out 11 batters per nine innings this season, right in line with his career average and is continuing to avoid the long ball, only three homers allowed in over 30 innings of work.

However, I can't trust the White Sox bullpen that has the second highest ERA as a unit this season, a big reason why the South Siders have started so poorly this season.

With that in mind, I'm going to back the White Sox on the first five moneylne in hopes that Cease can overwhelm the Twins en route to an early lead and get out of this one before the White Sox's flammable bullpen comes in.

Varland has made six career starts and has an ERA of 3.94, but he has struggled with avoiding barrels, allowing seven home runs in 32 innings of work dating back to last season. Chicago is banged up at the plate, but I do believe they can do enough to jump on Varland early, including with the ability to hit one over the fence.

Avoid the Chicago bullpen and take Cease and Chicago to win the first five innings.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.