Tigers vs. Royals Pick
Will the Detroit Tigers have another big day at the plate to lead them to a win over the Kansas City Royals tonight at 8:15PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at BetDSI, Detroit is favored on the road, as the Tigers are getting odds of -130 to win. Kansas City is listed with a money line of +120 to prevail, while the over/under total for the game is set at 9 runs.
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Detroit has Justin Verlander (4-3, 4.87 ERA) taking the mound tonight to face Eric Skoglund of the Royals. Skoglund is making his MLB debut in tonight’s game. He faces a former Cy Young winner and MVP winner in Verlander. JV is struggling as of late. He has given up at least three runs in his last four starts. He has now allowed 33 earned runs in 61 innings of work. He has 58 strikeouts with 29 walks and a WHIP of 1.41.
Detroit won the first game of this series on Monday, picking up a 10-7 win on the road. The road team has won three straight between these two. The Tigers are now 24-27 overall and 12-17 on the road. Kansas City is 21-29 overall and 12-12 at home.
Monday’s game saw the Tigers produce a total of 10 runs in two innings. They had six in the fifth and four in the eighth. J.D. Martinez had his eighth home run of the season in the win while Miguel Cabrera drove in two and Victor Martinez drove in two. White Merrifield finished a single shy of the cycle for the Royals. He drove in two runs and scored three times. Both teams struggled on the mound. Joakim Soria allowed four runs in relief and didn’t record an out while starter Jason Hammel last just 4.1 innings and allowed four runs. Daniel Norris went five innings for Detroit, giving up three runs. Both Shane Greene and Francisco Rodriguez gave up a pair of runs in relief.
Detroit got the hitting it needed on Monday and it may need that again today. Verlander is usually their ace, but he hasn’t looked like that for weeks. He still is capable of turning out a great outing, but the Tigers will need to get to Skoglund. Even if they can’t hit the rookie, he likely won’t pitch deep into the contest. KC used a lot of arms last night, so it has a thin bullpen that won’t be able to contend with the Tigers. Verlander may struggle, but he should be determined to get deep into the game and lead his team to a win.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: DETROIT TIGERS -130