Friday night baseball and I will have a Free Pick in the game between the Oakland A's and the Kansas City Royals, which will be played at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. First pitch is scheduled for an 8:10 PM (Eastern) start time and the game will be televised locally.
Betting Odds
Oakland -105
Kansas City -105
Over/ Under: 7.5 U -115
This is game 1 of a 3 game set between two teams that should contend for their respective division titles. The Oakland A's continue their road trip with a series in Kansas City. The A's come in at 5-5 on the year after taking 2 of three in Houston. The Royals started the year at 7-0, but they dropped their last 2 games to Minnesota and now stand at 7-2.
Oakland comes in ranked 5th in scoring (5.60 rpg), 4th in hitting (.294) and 22nd in homers (6). On the pitching front they are 4th in ERA (2.64) and 3rd in WHIP (0.96). The A's have gone 19-7 in Gray's last 26 starts following a team loss in their previous game, but they are just 2-9 in their last 11 games vs. a starter with a WHIP less than 1.15 and 1-5 the last 6 games in the series.
The Royals come in ranked 1st in scoring (6.44 rpg), 1st in hitting (.316) and 7th in homers (11), while on the mound they are 9th in ERA (3.19) and 3rd in WHIP (0.96). The Royals have gone 10-2 in their last 12 home games and 6-1 in Guthrie's last 7 starts, but just 7-19 in their last 26 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of greater than .600.
Getting the ball tonight for Oakland will be Sonny Gray, who is 1-0 with an 0.59 ERA in 2 starts for the A's so far this year. In those 2 starts he has allowed just 7 hits and 1 ER in 15.1 innings of work. Sonny is 0-2 with a 1.93 ERA in 2 career starts vs the Royals.
Getting the ball for the Kansas City will be Jeremy Guthrie, who allowed 6 hits and 4 ER's in a 6-4 win over the Angels in his first start of the year. Jeremy has gone 4-5 with a 4.55 ERA in 12 games (11 starts) vs the A's in his career and he is 21-14 with a 4.02 ERA in 46 games (44 starts) at Kauffman Stadium in his career.
Pick: Going with Kansas City to bounce back from their two losses at Minnesota. I know that Sonny Gray has pitched well and has good numbers vs the Royals, but this is a different Kansas City team that is looking to show that last year was not a fluke. Oakland just took 2 of 3 in Houston, but that is a different animal than this KC squad. Both teams can score, but the Royals have a bit more pitching here, especially in the bullpen. Look for KC to take game 1 tonight.
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