The Kansas City Royals welcome in the St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball action today. The game is scheduled for a 7:15 p.m. start time and it will be televised live on FOX. Currently the odds for the game have the Royals favored to pick up the win here at home.
Kansas City still owns the best record in the American League Central, holding off the Detroit Tigers for now. In this series the Cardinals came in with the best record in baseball, ahead of the Royals by a half game, but that changed hands last night.
The Royals are very good in home games (16-6) this season and picked up a 5-0 win yesterday over these Cardinals. Today they send Edison Volquez to the mound. He's spent a lot of time in the National League but this year is 3-3 with a 2.74 ERA for the Royals as it's been a nice transition for him to the AL. Volquez has been very good at Kauffman Stadium this season, posting a record of 3-1 in his five starts with a 2.03 ERA during that time. He's allowed only 19 hits in his 31 home innings and will look to continue that in this one.
Current Cardinals own a .243 average against him, Jhonny Peralta and Matt Holliday have both homered twice.
St. Louis counters with John Lackey. He's 2-2 with a 2.96 ERA in eight starts. The Cardinals have lost in each of his last two outings on the mound, both of which were on the road to the Indians and Mets. Lackey gave up just three earned runs in better than 12 innings in those games.
Current Royals are clubbing Lackey around to the tune of a .319 average. Alex Gordon has six hits in 13 at bats to have the most success against him. Several other players have been solid in less at bats against Lackey.
In tonight's game, if Volquez throws a solid game the Royals will win. They are very good at Kauffman Stadium, but the Cardinals aren't exactly bad on the road, either. This should be a good one to watch.
Free Pick: Royals
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