Rays vs. Royals Prediction
Will the Tampa Bay Rays avoid another surprising loss at the hands of the Kansas City Royals when the two meet up today at 2:15PM ET?
961 Tampa Bay Rays vs. 962 Kansas City Royals
Thursday, May 2, 2019
2:15PM ET – Kauffman Stadium
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Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers, the Rays are the favorite today, as they are getting odds of -175 to win, while the Royals are listed with a money line of +145 to prevail. The over/under total for the contest is listed at 8 runs. The public betting for the contest currently has 85 percent going on the Rays on the road. This information is subject to change, however, so be sure to check out our MLB Public Betting Page for updated figures on the game.
Rays bats going quiet
The Tampa Bay Rays have been one of the early surprises this MLB season, but they have lost the last two games of the series to Kansas City, scoring just two runs in each of the last two games. Tampa is now 19-11 on the year, 10-4 on the road and 16-13 with the under. Charlie Morton takes the mound for the Rays today. He is 3-0 with a 2.76 ERA.
Tampa managed eight hits on Wednesday, but produced just two runs, as they stranded seven runners in the loss. Willy Adames drove in both runs in the second inning. Tampa went with reliever Ryne Stanek for the start yesterday and it didn’t go well, as he gave up three runs on three hits and one walk in his lone inning. From there, the pen pitched 7 scoreless innings.
Royals seek win streak
Kansas City is looking to match its season-long win streak of three games today with another win. The Royals haven’t had great sustained success this season, but are coming off 3-2 and 8-2 wins over the Rays. Kansas City is now 11-20 on the season, 8-10 at home and 19-11 with the over. The Royals give the ball to Danny Duffy, who is 0-1 on the season with a 5.40 ERA.
Jake Junis gave Kansas City a pretty solid effort on Wednesday, as he pitched 6.1 innings and allowed just two runs on six hits. Junis moved to 3-2 on the season with the win while Ian Kennedy had a two-inning save. The Royals scored all three of their runs in the first. Adalberto Mondesi connected on a two-run home run in just the second at-bat of the game while Kelvin Gutierrez drove in the other run.
MLB Betting Trends
Tampa Bay
The Rays have won five straight road games against a left-handed starter and 19 of their last 26 road games overall.
Kansas City
The Royals are 1-5 in their last six Game 4’s of a series and 3-10 in Duffy’s last 13 home starts.
Prediction:
The Rays had their bats let them down the past few games, but I don’t see that continuing today. Duffy was shaky in his first start of the season last week and I think the Rays will be able to manufacture some runs. From there, the Tampa arms should take care of business as well. Morton has allowed two runs or less in five of his six starts and he has some very trustworthy relievers behind him.
MLB Prediction: Tampa Bay Rays -175