Detroit Tigers vs. Kansas City Royals Prediction: Is This The Day The Under Streak Snaps?
Detroit Tigers vs. Kansas City Royals Prediction: Is This The Day The Under Streak Snaps?
The Kansas City Royals snapped a five-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Detroit Tigers yesterday and now can earn a split of the four-game series with a win today. If you like pitching (or perhaps just lousy offense), this Tigers-Royals series has been appealing. Detroit won the first two games, 4-2 and 2-1, and the two teams have seen each of their last seven meetings dating back to last year go under the projected total.
Are we in for another pitcher’s duel today? Or is this the game we see the under streak between these teams finally break?
Read on for our best bet on today’s series finale between the Tigers and Royals.
Detroit Tigers vs. Kansas City Royals Prediction
Much of the reason the matchups between the Tigers and Royals are so low-scoring is that neither offense is very good. Detroit and Kansas City enter today’s game ranking 24th or worse in batting average and 26th or worse in runs scored and home runs. However, both teams’ poor offenses are a big reason their head-to-head rivalry has been so competitive recently, as 17 of their last 22 meetings have been decided by two or fewer runs.
Though yesterday’s result was another low-scoring affair, each team had its chances for big innings. Detroit could not take advantage of Royals starter Kris Bubic’s six walks, and the Tigers should have been able to do more damage to him, considering they saw 89 of his pitches through 4.1 innings. Conversely, Kansas City was just 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position through the first three innings and only managed one run despite having two runners on base with less than two outs in each frame.
The law of averages will take over at some point, and these two teams should be in for a more high-scoring game. Kansas City pitchers entered the previous game dead-last in ERA, OBA, OBA with RISP, and opponent’s OPS with two outs. Thus, we believe the under streak ends this afternoon.
The under is 43-18-2 in Kansas City’s last 63 games against left-handed starters. However, Detroit’s Tyler Alexander (0-0, 5.06) has started in just 26 of his 69 career appearances and is still getting adjusted to throwing more innings. He does not blow people away, averaging less than four strikeouts per win, and he has pitched to a 5.19 ERA in 8.2 career innings (seven appearances) against Kansas City. Thus, in his first start against the division rivals, we expect the Royals bats to jump on him early.
Kiss the seven-game under streak between these teams goodbye, as we should see plenty of runs today.
Detroit Tigers vs. Kansas City Royals Pick
- PICK: OVER 8 Runs @ -110 (Bet $110 to win $100)