Indians vs. Royals Pick
Can the Kansas City Royals pick up a big sweep of the Cleveland Indians when the two close out their weekend series today at 2:15PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at BetDSI, the Indians are the slight favorite on the road, as they are getting odds of -125 to win, while the Royals are listed with a money line of +105. The over/under total for the game is set at 9 runs.
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The pitching matchup for today’s game has Eric Skoglund (1-0, 0-0 ERA) on the mound for Kansas City to face Trevor Bauer (5-4, 6.00) of the Indians. Skoglund made his MLB debut last week against the Tigers and pitched 6.1 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and 1 walk with five strikeouts in a 1-0 win. Bauer has allowed multiple runs in all 10 of his starts this year. He did have 14 strikeouts in his last outing, but still gave up three runs. He has 73 strikeouts in 57 innings of work and a WHIP of 1.39.
Kansas City has taken the first two games in this series, picking up a 4-0 win on Friday and a 12-5 win on Saturday afternoon. The Royals are now 24-30 overall and 15-13 at home while the Indians are 28-26 overall and 16-12 on the road.
Cleveland held a 3-0 lead in Saturday’s game, but a 6-run fifth for KC opened the door for a comeback win. Carlos Carrasco took his third loss by blowing up in the fifth. He gave up 5 runs in 4.1 innings. Jason Hammel lasted 6.2 innings, giving up 3 earned runs and five hits with seven strikeouts to get his second win. Lorenzo Cain had three hits and drove in three runs to lead the Royals while Carlos Santana had two hits and drove in three for Cleveland.
Skoglund may have just had a lucky debut, or perhaps he could be something special for KC. I don’t expect another scoreless performance, but I think he will cause trouble for Cleveland, as there still isn’t a lot of film on him. One thing I do know, Bauer is going to give up some runs. He will get his strikeouts, but still is going to give up runs. For that reason, I take a chance on the Royals to win at home as a slight underdog.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: KANSAS CITY ROYALS +105