Zach Thompson gives you a preview, prediction and pick for tonight’s game between the Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals.

Wednesday night’s baseball slate is a little light with just two night games, and the first primetime matchup is an AL Central showdown between the Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Both teams are playing their fifth game of the season, setting up an interesting pitching matchup for the second game of this three-game set.

Joe Ryan will make his second start of the season for the visiting Twins, while the hometown Royals will give the ball to Noah Cameron for his first start of the year. Even with an off day, the Royals are rolling with a five-man rotation to include Cameron, who had a breakout 2025 season. The first pitch will be at 7:40 p.m. ET, weather permitting. The weather does look very dicey for this matchup, with rain in the forecast most of the evening. A delay seems likely, and a postponement is definitely a possibility, especially since the teams play so many times over the rest of the season.

The Twins are slight road favorites at -120 on the moneyline, whiel the Royals are -168 favorites on the run line at +1.5. The over/under is 8.5 runs. Let’s break down this matchup with some odds and lines at DraftKings Sportsbook.

Twins at Royals prediction, preview

The Royals won their home opener, 3-1, over the Twins on Monday afternoon, before the two teams had Tuesday off. In that win, Kyle Isbel and Isaac Collins went yard, and Kris Bubic picked up the win in his first start of the season. He held the Twins to just one run on two hits in six innings, as the Royals evened their record at 2-2.

The Twins’ offense hasn’t been great this season, hitting just .200 as a team through their first four games with 12 runs scored and a .287 wOBA. Even though Minnesota’s offense has struggled, they still rank above the Royals, who are hitting only .192 with nine runs scored in their first four games.

Ryan will look to keep the Royals’ bats quiet, after a very strong start to his season in Baltimore. He gave up just one hit and two walks with seven strikeouts in 5 1/2 shutout innings in a no-decision on Opening Day. Ryan missed time early in spring training with back tightness but his velocity was normal, and he was very effective overall in his first start of the year. Last year, he faced the Royals three times, allowing six runs in 14 innings. In his career, though, he is an effective 8-1 with just a 2.02 ERA in 11 starts against Kansas City.

His opponent, Noah Cameron, spent most of 2025 filling in for the injured Cole Ragans but earned a spot in the rotation out of spring training this season after going 9-7 with a 2.99 ERA and 4.18 FIP in his 24 starts last season. Despite some spring training struggles, the team seems very confident that the 26-year-old lefty will be just fine when the games start to count. Cameron had favorable home splits last season and went 6 2/3 innings with just four hits and one run allowed in his only start against the Twins.

Both bullpens should be well-rested after the day off yesterday, and runs could be hard to come by with the wind blowing in and plenty of moisture in the air. The Royals did adjust their fences this season to try and be a little more “home run neutral,” but the dingers on Opening Day were likely more a result of the warmer temperatures and better contact. With the wind forecast to be blowing in on Wednesday, even if this game is played it shapes up to be a low-scoring contest, especially with Ryan getting the start for the Twins.

Twins at Royals pick, best bet

Best Bet: Run Total u8.5 (-118)

The Twins are averaging 3.0 runs per game and the Royals only 2.2 runs per game. With bad weather and winds blowing in along with two solid starting pitchers, this game definitely feels like an under. Even if one offense breaks out for a big game, the other one staying quiet could still keep this total under.

Strong Lean: Maikel Garcia O 1.5 Hits + Runs + RBI (-126)

Maikel Garcia has hit at the top of the order for the Royals so far this season and is 4-for-14 (.286) after going 2-for-4 with a double on Monday. He also went 4-for-14 with a home run in his career against Joe Ryan. If he is back in the leadoff spot on Wednesday against Ryan, he has a good chance of getting at least two HRR, even though I expect the game to be low-scoring.