Mariners vs. Royals Pick
After a rainout on Saturday, can the Kansas City Royals open a Sunday doubleheader with a win over the Seattle Mariners today at 2:15PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, Kansas City is favored at home today, as the Royals are getting odds of -120 to win, while the Mariners are getting a money line of +10 to win. The over/under total for the contest has been set at 9.5 runs.
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The pitching matchup tonight has Marco Gonzalez on the mound for Seattle to face Danny Duffy (7-6, 3.42) of the Royals. Duffy has been pretty solid as of late, allowing just one run in each of his last three starts. Duffy has 85 strikeouts with 29 walks and a 1.26 WHIP this season. Gonzalez is making his debut for Seattle. He pitched one game for the Cardinals this year, allowing five runs in 3.1 innings on six hits. He has appeared in 12 games in his career and has a 5.53 ERA.
These two have split the first two games of the weekend series. Kansas City earned a 6-4 win on Thursday while the Mariners picked up a 5-2 win on the road on Friday night. The Mariners are now 56-55 overall and 24-28 on the road while the Royals are 56-52 overall and 31-24 at home.
Friday saw some good pitching as James Paxton went six innings and allowed two earned runs to improve to 12-3 on the season. Jason Hammel gave up three runs over 6.1 innings to take his ninth loss. Danny Valencia drove in a pair of runs to lead the Mariners in the win while Jean Segura had a pair of hits and scored two runs. Brandon Moss had the lone RBI for the Royals.
I am somewhat surprised the Royals are only favored at -120. Duffy has been in a good mode as of late and should be able to have another strong outing today. Gonzalez has never looked comfortable in a starting role and is making a start on the road that wasn’t really anticipated. Felix Hernandez was put on the DL, thrusting Gonzalez into his start. I don’t see good things happening for Seattle with him pitching.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: KANSAS CITY ROYALS -120