White Sox vs. Royals Pick
Should the Kansas City Royals be able to pick up another win over the Chicago White Sox when the two AL Central rivals meet today at 2:15PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, Kansas City is favored at home, as the Royals are getting odds of -140 to win this game, while the White Sox are listed with odds of +130 to prevail. The over/under total for the contest is listed at 11 runs.
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The pitching matchup in this game has Derek Holland (5-9, 5.09 ERA) on the mound for the White Sox to face Travis Wood (1-3, 6.81) of the Royals. Holland has struggled for the better part of a few months. He has allowed at least five runs in six of his last eight starts. Holland has 81 strikeouts with 39 walks this season and a 1.50 WHIP. Wood is making just his third start of 2017. In his first two starts, he allowed eight earned runs over 8.1 innings. For the season, he has given up 28 earned runs over 37 innings with a 1.84 WHIP.
The Royals have managed to get the first two games of this series by picking up a 7-6 win on Friday and 7-2 win on Saturday. Kansas City is now 49-47 overall and 29-23 at home. Chicago is now 38-56 overall and 19-33 on the road.
The White Sox held a 2-0 lead in Saturday’s game, but the Royals rallied for their seven runs over the sixth-eighth innings. Mike Pelfrey had a good start, allowing one run in five innings of work, but David Holmberg gave up four runs in the sixth inning to blow the game. Kansas City scored its seven runs on five home runs. Mike Moustakas hit his 27th and 28th home runs of the season to lead the Royals. Salvador Perez added his 19th home run in the win. Melky Cabrera led the White Sox with four hits and two RBI.
The Sox haven’t had much to offer lately and their bullpen is clearly a mess after trading away a pair of good arms. Holland is likely to struggle once again, but he can’t count on his lineup giving him the run support to stay in the game. I don’t like much of what Wood has done as a starter, but KC should have a quick hook and their bullpen proved on Saturday it can handle the workload.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: KANSAS CITY ROYALS -140