Monday night baseball and we will see the Kansas City Royals take on the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York. First pitch is scheduled for a 7:05 PM (Eastern) start time and the game will be televised locally. Current Betting Odds, according to Sportsbook.ag, have New York listed as the favorite.
Current Odds
Kansas City +136
New York -151
Over/ Under: 9 -110
Analysis: The Royals went 3-3 on their recent homestand, which came to a close with Sunday's 10-4 loss to the Oakland Athletics. Luis Mendoza got the start for K.C. and gave up five runs and five hits in just 1 2/3 innings. Bruce Chen and Will Smith combined to allow five runs in relief. Alex Gordon and George Kottaras each homered for the Royals, who are six games out in the AL Central and will start a seven-game road trip tonight. A lack of power has also been an issue for the Royals, who rank second-to-last in the majors with 57 home runs despite going deep 14 times over the past nine games. Jeremy Guthrie gets the call for Kansas City at Yankee Stadium and is winless (0-3) in his last four starts. He did not figure into the decision of a 6-5 win over Cleveland on Wednesday and permitted five runs in 6 1/3 innings. Guthrie has given up 17 runs over his past four appearances and is 7-6 with a 4.29 ERA in 17 starts. The right-hander has faced the Yankees 17 times (15 starts) in his career and is 4-9 with a 5.15 ERA against them.
The New York Yankees will try to rebound from a stinging loss and keep their current hot stretch going. The Yankees were two outs away from a season-high seventh consecutive victory Sunday when future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera surrendered a two-run homer in a 2-1 home loss to Baltimore. The span of six wins in seven games notwithstanding, this year's edition of the injury-riddled Yankees is not your father's Bronx Bombers. They have not homered in five straight games - marking the second time that has happened this year and only the third time it has occurred since 2000. Phil Hughes gets the call for the Yanks on Monday and was able to stop a personal three-game losing streak his previous time out. In last Tuesday's 7-3 win at Minnesota, Hughes was reached for just one run on six hits in seven innings with three strikeouts and two walks. Hughes, a right-hander, is 4-7 in 16 starts to go along with a 4.55 earned run average and defeated Kansas City back on May 10. In eight career meetings, seven of which have been starts, against the Royals, Hughes is 5-1 with a 6.10 ERA. He hasn't pitched well at home this season, going 1-5 in eight outings.
Pick: Going with the Yanks here. The Royals have been solid offensively of late, but their pitching has been horrid. In the last 10 games the Royals have a 5.42 ERA, including a 6.88 ERA from their starters over that stretch. Jeremy Guthrie has been up and down this year and right now he is down, as he comes in with an 0-3 mark and a 6.95 ERA in his last 4 starts. Jeremy is also 1-4 with a 6.75 ERA in his last 5 starts vs the Yanks and he is 1-4 with a 5.09 ERA in 4 career starts in this park. Those numbers don't add up to a good night for Jeremy, especially since the Yanks offense is coming alive, scoring 4.6 rpg in their last 10 games. Phil Hughes as not pitched well at home, but he has pitched very good overall of late posting a 3.50 ERA in his last 7 starts, despite a 2-4 mark in those games. Phil has a 5.16 ERA in his last 5 starts vs the Royals, but he is 5-0 in those games and it was really just one bad starts vs them as he allowed 3 ER's or less in 4 of those starts. The Royals are not a good road team and they are 12-39 in their last 51 games in New York, while the Yanks have been a solid home team this year, going 25-19. I look for the Yanks to bounceback after their tough 9th inning home loss yesterday.
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