The ice-cold Kansas City Royals will try to avoid losing their ninth straight game as they play host to the Boston Red Sox at Ewing M. Kauffman Stadium. The game gets underway 2:15 p.m. ET and New England Sports Network is in line to televise this AL matchup.
Boston Red Sox at Kansas City Royals Odds
Boston (-230) is favored over Kansas City (+210) and oddsmakers have the Over/Under for this game at 9.5 runs (-115 for the under and -105 for the over). The game’s runline odds sit at -155 for picking the Red Sox -1.5 runs and +135 for the Royals +1.5 runs.
The Royals are 25-63 straight up (SU) and 39-48 against the spread (ATS). They’ve lost 26.7 units for bettors taking the moneyline and 16.4 units (ATS). The Red Sox, on the other hand, are 61-29 SU and have gone 52-37 ATS. Overall, the team’s gained 18.4 units for bettors taking the moneyline and 14.8 units ATS.
Royals games have an over/under record of 34-49-4 so far in 2018. Boston has an over/under record of 42-44-3.
Rick Porcello will get the nod for the BoSox. The right-handed Porcello is 10-3 with a 3.57 ERA and 104 strikeouts. He has yet to face the Royals this year and only made one start against them in 2017 (0-1, 5.14 ERA and five strikeouts over seven innings).
The Royals will turn to righty Jakob Junis (5-10, 5.13 ERA), who has 92 strikeouts and 28 walks as well as a 1.29 WHIP. Junis is 0-0 with five strikeouts and a 3.00 ERA in one start against Boston this year.
As a unit, Kansas City’s pitching staff has yielded 5.6 runs per game overall in 2018. The club’s starters have a 5.38 ERA, 1.45 WHIP and 7.2 strikeouts per nine innings. The bullpen has a 5.28 ERA, 1.51 WHIP and 6.9 K/9.
The Kansas City hitters have put up 3.5 runs per outing, including 2.9 per game over its last 10 games and 3.6 per game over their last five. The team has a slash-line of .254/.299/.393 over its last five contests and is 0-5 SU during that span.
Whit Merrifield has helped lead the Royals’ offense this season with five home runs, 28 RBIs, 36 runs and 16 steals.
In the other dugout, Boston’s pitching staff allowed 3.7 runs per game and its starters own a 3.79 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 9.67 K/9. The bullpen has logged a solid ERA of just 3.19, along with a K-per-9 of 9.46.
The Red Sox offense has slashed .269/.338/.461 on its way to 5.4 runs scored per game this season, including 6.9 runs per game over the team’s last 10 games and 8.6 per game over the team’s last five outings (5-0 SU).
J.D. Martinez has led Boston’s offense and is slashing .329/.392/.646 with 27 home runs, 74 RBIs and 64 runs scored.
The Red Sox just took the previous game in this series by a final score of 15 runs to four.
Boston Red Sox at Kansas City Royals Pick
Predictions: SU Winner – Red Sox, ATS Winner – Red Sox, O/U – OVER
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Notes
Betting Trends
The under has cashed in three of Kansas City’s last seven games.
The Red Sox have hit 15 home runs in their last 10 games, including eight over their last five.
Kansas City has recorded 17.3 runs + hits + errors per game over its last 10 outings and 21.2 over its last five.
The Royals have lost nine of their last 10 games SU.
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