Rangers vs. Royals Pick
Will the Texas Rangers grab another win over the Kansas City Royals when the two meet up again tonight at 7:15PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at BetDSI, Kansas City is the slight favorite at home tonight, as the Royals are getting odds of -120 to win, while the Rangers are getting a money line of +110 to prevail. The over/under total for the game has been set at 9 runs.
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The pitching matchup tonight has Cole Hamels (4-0, 3.51 ERA) on the mound for Texas to face Danny Duffy (5-5, 3.76) of the Royals. Duffy entered the break on a poor run, allowing 13 earned runs over his last three starts, a total of 16.2 innings. On the year, Duffy has 67 strikeouts with 27 walks and a 1.32 WHIP. Hamels has looked good in his last two starts, allowing just two earned runs over 14.1 innings. He has 28 strikeouts with 17 walks over 51.1 innings this season. His WHIP is 1.07.
Texas opened this series with a 5-3 win on Friday. The Rangers have won all five meetings with Kansas City this year and their last 10 against the Royals. Texas is now 44-45 overall and 19-25 on the road while Kansas City is 44-44 overall and 24-20 at home.
The Rangers fell behind 3-0 on Friday, but rebounded to get the 5-3 win. After a slow start, Martin Perez battled to get through seven innings and allow just the three runs on eight hits. He got the win and is 5-6 on the season. The KC bullpen blew the lead as Mike Minor allowed two runs in just 1.1 inning of work. Adrian Beltre had his eighth home run of the season and three RBI while Mike Napoli had his 19th home run and drove in two for Texas. Alcides Escobar led the Royals with two RBI, including his third home run of 2017.
I thought the Rangers would upset the Royals on Friday and I expect more of the same today. Hamels has settled in following his disastrous first start back from injury. Hamels has yet to take a loss, due to a little luck, but he has the ability to navigate this Kansas City lineup. Texas is hoping Beltre is getting on track and can lead this Rangers’ lineup to becoming a dangerous one once again.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: TEXAS RANGERS +110