Kansas City Royals vs. Texas Rangers MLB betting preview
Time: 8:05 PM
Venue: Globe Life Park
Odds for fans who bet on baseball:
Royals -1½ (+140) 9 (EV) -115
Rangers +1½ (-160) 9 (-120) +105
Kansas City
On the mound: Danny Duffy (LHP, 2-0, 1.80 ERA) has won two of his three starts this season and did not lose the other one. He allowed three hits and one run and had six strikeouts in seven innings against the Angels on Friday. Duffy is 1-1 with a 5.31 ERA in four career starts against Texas. Duffy has held batters of the left persuasion to a .210 batting average and a .293 slugging percentage in his professional career. Additionally, he has produced a whiff on 24.1% of his changeups, an increase from 19.7% in 2016 and 12.6% in 2015.
At bat: Eric Hosmer has two RBIs and Mike Moustakas one against the Rangers’ starter. Alex Gordon has a .210 batting average versus Texas, which is his lowest against any AL club. His .220 average at Globe Life Park is the seventh lowest ever by a leftie hitter with at least 100 plate appearances there.
Recent form: The Royals have won five of their last six games overall but have lost four of their last six road contests. What’s worse, they have gone 0-6 in their last five meetings with the Rangers.
Miscellanea: KC had three of the top eight pitchers of 47who had thrown at least 40 changeups through Tuesday in swinging-strike rate; Ian Kennedy (1st), Jason Vargas (3rd) and Duffy (8th).
Trends for fans who bet on baseball: The Royals have been able to cover the spread in five of their last six games but only in two of their lasts six versus Texas. More importantly, Kansas City goes under more than a diver looking for pearls. The MLB betting total has gone under in the last six Royals games, thanks to the club’s combination of fewest runs in the league and 5th best collective ERA.
Texas
On the mound: Andrew Cashner (RHP, 0-1, 5.06 ERA) was activated on Saturday (perhaps he’s a sleeper agent?) and had five runless innings against Seattle before the Mariners scored five in the sixth. Cashner is 0-2 with a 2.70 ERA in two career starts against KC.
At bat: Mike Napoli is 4-for-5 with two homers off Duffy, while Rougned Odor is 1-for-3 with a home run and is one of six sinister hitters who have hit a homer off Duffy in a total of 518 plate appearances.
Recent form: The Rangers have lost four of their last five games and eight of their last 10 at home – though they have defeated the Royals five of the last six times they have hosted them.
Trends for fans who bet on baseball: Texas has covered in only one of the last five games and six of their last 21 at home, but has been a bit luckier against Kansas, going 4-2 ATS in their last six encounters. The under trend holds here as well; the MLB betting total has gone under in four of Texas’s last five games playing the Royals and four of the last six at home versus Kansas City.