White Sox vs. Royals Pick
Can the Chicago White Sox pull off a big upset tonight and beat the Kansas City Royals when they meet up at 7:15PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, Kansas City is favored at home, as the Royals are getting odds of -180 to win this game, while the White Sox are listed with odds of +160 to prevail. The over/under total for the contest is listed at 10 runs.
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The pitching matchup for this one has Jason Vargas (12-4, 3.06 ERA) taking the mound for KC to face Mike Pelfrey (3-7, 4.64) of the White Sox. Pelfrey hasn’t been able to do much right lately, allowing 17 runs over his last five appearances, a total of just 18 innings. He has 48 strikeouts on the season with 33 walks and a 1.44 ERA. Vargas has been great most of the season, but is coming off back-to-back starts where he has allowed six runs. Vargas has 82 strikeouts with 29 walks this season and a 1.22 WHIP.
Kansas City opened the series on Friday with a 7-6 win at home. The Sox are still 5-3 in the season series with the Royals. KC is now 48-47 on the season and 28-23 at home while Chicago is 38-55 overall and 19-32 on the road.
Friday’s game went 10 innings, but saw the Royals rally from a 5-1 deficit to still get the win. The two teams had to combined to use 12 pitchers in the game. Eventually a sacrifice fly from Whit Merrifield in the 10th brought the game to an end. Alex Gordon had three hits and three RBI to lead the Royals while Mike Moustakas hit his 26th home run of the year. Rookie Yoan Moncada had four RBI and a triple to lead the White Sox in the loss.
The White Sox traded a pair of relievers this week and had to use a number of arms on Friday night. That doesn’t bode well for today, because Pelfrey doesn’t get deep into games. Either Pelfrey is going to have to pitch deep and get shelled, or the Sox will have to take their chances with a shaky pen. Either way, I expect Vargas to bounce back against this Chicago lineup that can go cold quickly.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: KANSAS CITY ROYALS -180