The
Kansas City Royals and
Cleveland Indians continue their battle for second fiddle in the AL Central tonight with a 7:05pm ET battle at Progressive Field.
MLB Free Picks and Odds at offshore bookmaker 5Dimes have the hosting Indians listed as a slight -109 moneyline favorite and the Over/Under set at 7.5 runs.
The Royals continued their red hot play last night, earning a 2-1 win in their series opener against Cleveland to even their record at 34-34 and move past the Indians into second place in the AL Central standings.
Kansas City’s pitching staff gave up six free passes to the Indians, but they also allowed just six hits, including Carlos Santana’s solo bomb in the bottom of the sixth inning off James Shields.
The Royals, who have allowed just 249 runs this season (fewest in American League and fourth fewest in baseball), will look for a similar effort from Ervin Santana tonight.
Santana has been excellent this season, posting a 2.74 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in 13 starts and he has worked at least six innings in each of his appearances this season. Santana, who has allowed just 13 hits, two earned runs, and two walks in his last three outings (21.2 innings) for a 0.84 ERA and 0.70 WHIP, is 2-2 with a 2.43 ERA in six away starts this year.
The Indians will counter Santana, who presided over a 3-2 win over Cleveland on April 27th (six hits, no runs, no walks, six strikeouts), with Ubaldo Jimenez.
Jimenez turned in, arguably, his best performance of the season at Kauffman Stadium on April 29th as he limited the Royals to three hits over seven innings in a 9-0 Cleveland victory.
Jimenez, who owns a 4.79 ERA and 1.37 WHIP, is 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA in five career appearances against Kansas City.
Notable Trends: The Indians are 6-1 in their last seven games as a home favorite with a total between 7.5 and 8 runs.
Kansas City Royals +1.5 (-220), Over 7.5 (-110), -101 (Moneyline)
Cleveland Indians -1.5 (+180), Under 7.5 (-110), -109 (Moneyline)
MLB Replay System
Vegas Runner, Bryan Leonard and host Steve Fezzik discuss the current MLB replay system, with ideas on how to tweak it.