MLB Preview: Boston Red Sox at Kansas City Royals
The Boston Red Sox are trying to maintain their two game lead atop the AL East but they’ve got a tough matchup this week as they play in Kansas City against the Royals. Boston has been playing decent baseball of late winning 6 of their last 10 games though they did lose the opening game of this series last night. The Royals have been playing excellent ball of late winning 8 of their last 10 games. They’re 8 games behind the first place Detroit Tigers but just 1/2 game back of the second place Cleveland Indians. Climbing into the runner up spot would be a significant accomplishment for a team that hasn’t had much on field success in recent years.
Boston will start lefthander Felix Doubront who has been a solid member of the Red Sox rotation this season. Doubront has a 3.26 ERA in his 20 starts with the Red Sox winning 12 of his 20 starts. He hasn’t been as effective away from Fenway Park, posting a 4.00 ERA but the Red Sox have managed to win 6 of his 10 away starts. He’s looked very sharp in his most recent assignments though the Red Sox managed to lose two of his last three starts. He’s got a 2.41 ERA in that stretch and was very good in a 4-0 shutout win against Arizona last time out.
The Royals will counter with righthander Jeremy Guthrie who has been very solid for Kansas City this season. Overall he’s got a 3.96 ERA with the Royals winning 15 of his 23 starts. At home he’s posted a 3.77 ERA with 9 KC wins in 11 starts. He’s look especially good in his last three assignments with a 1.92 ERA, a 0.952 WHIP and three Royals wins. Kansas City has been very good against the Red Sox this season winning 4 of 5 meetings including both home games. The Royals haven’t been great against left handed pitching (15-18 -4 units) but we like their recent form and think they can get some offense against Doubront. Just not possible to pass up a team in such good form on their home field getting a solid plus money price. The Red Sox have a stretch of games against divisional rivals on the horizon and this could be something of a ‘lookahead’ series for the team.
BET KANSAS CITY ROYALS (GUTHRIE) +120 OVER BOSTON RED SOX (DOUBRONT)