Sports Reporter | Capper
Loading ...
The Kansas City Royals had their eight-game winning streak snapped when they dropped their series finale against the Rays 4-1. The Royals will be looking to start a new streak when they head to Minnesota to take on their divisional rivals the Minnesota Twins in Game 1 of this series. With that said, we take a look at this matchup to make a Royals-Twins prediction and pick.
Kansas City Royals (34-20) had their eight-game winning streak snapped after they attempted to sweep yet another series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Unfortunately, their red-hot bats weren't able to keep up against Taj Bradley this Rays pitching staff as they only scored 1 run on the day as they were downed 4-1 in the series finale.
The Royals head out on the road from Tampa Bay to Minnesota to take on their AL Central rivals the Minnesota Twins as they look to get back on track. The Royals will be sending out 2nd-year starter Alec Marsh (4-1, 2.72 ERA) to the mound who's having a great start to his sophomore campaign.
In Marsh's last 5 starts, he has a 4-1 record with an ERA of just 1.00 averaging 5.0 innings pitched with 5.2 strikeouts per game. In three of those 5 starts, Marsh has given up just 1 run total blanketing both Toronto and Baltimore.
He has been efficient this season, especially against lefties who he has limited to just a .176 batting average (19-117) this season and with the Twins having 6 of their 9 batters batting from the left side he has a chance to continue that trend in today's game.
If Marsh can limit the damage from the Twins and the Royals get back to their red-hot hitting where they were averaging over 8 runs per 9 innings during their 8-game winning streak they can get back on track in the Memorial Day showdown.
Minnesota Twins (28-24) sit in third place behind the Kansas City Royals in the AL Central. They were on a five-game winning streak looking to sweep the Texas Rangers but ultimately lost the series finale 2-6 after Pablo Lopez had yet another rough outing. The Twins' supposed ace has now given up 13 runs on 15 hits in his last two games.
The Twins are hoping the resurgence of pitcher Joe Ryan (3-3, 3.15 ERA) can get them back on track as he heads to the mound on this Memorial Day matchup. He delivered his 7th quality start when he held the Washington Nationals to 0 earned runs and just 3 hits through 7 innings pitched with 6 strikeouts.
Now, Ryan gets to take a familiar team the Royals who he has had a ton of success against. In his season debut, he held the Royals bats to just 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 5 batters.
For his career against this current Royals lineup, Ryan has given up a .154 batting average (14-91) with 25 strikeouts (27.4% k-rate). This is a prime matchup for Ryan to continue his quality pitching to help this Twins team cut into the Cleveland Guardians lead at the top of the AL Central.
The Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins are looking to get back on track after losing their Sunday series finales yesterday. Both teams send surging pitchers Alec Marsh and Joe Ryan to the mound who have been pitching very well this season.
All signs point to this matchup being a pitcher's duel with runs being very limited.
Also, with the weather being quite rough only 61 degrees with a 67% chance of rain throughout the game gives a bump to the pitchers in this matchup.
While it is tough to take a side here it's best to take the under 8 runs as both pitchers have stayed under the total in three out of their last five games which is expected to happen yet again in this matchup here.
FINAL ROYALS-TWINS PICK & PREDICTION: UNDER 8 RUNS (-110)
Check our FanDuel sportsbook review to find out more about FanDuel's rating, bonuses, betting margins, and other helpful details.
© 2005-2024 BALLISLIFE.COM - PO BOX 15355. IRVINE, CA 92623
21+ and present in VA. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.