The Twins (1-4) and the Royals (3-2) close out their three-game series Thursday afternoon in Kansas City. Taj Bradley takes the ball for Minnesota and Cole Ragans gets the start for the Royals.
The Royals have taken the first two games. The opener was a pitchers’ duel. Last night was anything but as the teams combined for 22 runs on 24 hits with the Royals prevailing 13-9. Every starter in the lineup collected at least one hit for Kansas City. Jonathan India drove in 5 with a couple hits including his first home run of the season. The Bullpen for the Royals was rancid but starter Noah Cameron was quite the opposite limiting the Twins to one run over five innings to earn his first win of the season. Josh Bell smacked his first bomb of 2026 in the loss for Minnesota. Starter Joe Ryan was less than good for the Twins allowing five runs on nine hits in just four innings.
Lets dive into this afternoon’s matchup and find a sweat or two.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game Details and How to Watch: Twins vs. Royals
- Date: Thursday, April 2, 2026
- Time: 2:10PM EST
- Site: Kauffman Stadium
- City: Kansas City, MO
- Network/Streaming: MLB.TV, Royals.TV, Twins.TV
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
The Latest Odds: Twins vs. Royals
The latest odds as of Thursday courtesy of FanDuel:
- Moneyline: Minnesota Twins (+135), Kansas City Royals (-163)
- Spread: Twins +1.5 (-156) / Royals -1.5 (+129)
- Total: 9.5 runs
Probable Starting Pitchers: Twins vs. Royals
Pitching matchup for April 2:
- Twins: Taj Bradley
Season Totals: 4.1 IP, 0-0, 2.08 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 9K, 3 BB - Royals: Cole Ragans
Season Totals: 4 IP, 0-1, 9.00 ERA, 2.50 WHIP, 5K, 4 BB
Who’s Hot? Who’s Not! Twins vs. Royals
- Bobby Witt Jr. does not have an extra base hit this season
- Rookie Carter Jensen is just 2-16 (.125) through 5 games
- The Royals are 3-2 despite being outscored 23-22 on the season
- Royce Lewis has 3 hits on the season and all 3 are extra-base hits (2 HRs, 1 Double)
- The Twins collectively are hitting .210 this season
- The Royals as a team are hitting .244 this season
- The Royals team batting average rose .052 yesterday
Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!
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Top Betting Trends & Insights: Twins vs. Royals
- The Twins are 2-3 on the Run Line this season
- Kansas City is 3-2 on the Run Line this season
- The OVER has cashed 2 times in Minnesota’s 5 games this season (2-3)
- The OVER cashed yesterday for the first time this season for the Royals (1-4)
If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Expert picks & predictions: Twins vs. Royals
Rotoworld Bet Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Wednesday’s game between the Twins and the Royals:
- Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Royals on the Moneyline.
- Spread: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Royals on the Run Line.
- Total: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play on the Game Total UNDER 9.5.
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- Jay Croucher (@croucherJD)
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- Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports)
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