Continuing into the second of a three-game slate, the Kansas City Royals will pay another visit to the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday night.
The guests won the opener of this set, 2-1, on Monday. That victory came courtesy of solo home runs by Salvador Perez and Whit Merrifield.
MLB Performance Recap
After trudging through a five-game losing skid, Kansas City (41-62) has won its last two games. The Royals are in the middle of a seven-game road swing.
They’re 13.5 games out of first place in the American League Central and have a good deal of ground to make up if they want to catch the division-leading Minnesota Twins.
Three Spots From the First Place
The Chicago White Sox (51-51) are 5-5 in their last 10 outings. They’ll have to do a better job in order to keep pace with Cleveland and Minnesota in the grouping.
At this moment, they’re only three games from first place, despite not meeting the expectations many had set for them this year.
White Sox Offense
The offense is a big reason why they still have a chance to win the AL Central for the second year in a row. The Southsiders have the fourth-best collective batting average in the bigs (.257).
Shortstop Tim Anderson and center fielder Luis Robert have swung well, as they both have averaged at the dish that are better than .300. Robert leads the club with 54 RBIs, and first baseman Jose Abreu has a dozen dingers and a .381 on-base percentage.
White Sox vs. Royals Odds
MLB odds point to the home team to get back at the Royals for the loss in the opener. Chicago is -1.5 on the run line at +115, while the Royals are -138 to cover the spread.
On the moneyline, the White Sox are -178 and Kansas City a +150 underdog. The total has been set at 8.5 runs, with the over being -110 and the under the same at the time of this writing.
Royals’ Offense
For all of their struggles, the Royals’ offense has been surprisingly solid at the plate, having posted a .246 team batting average to this point.
However, they haven’t been nearly as successful at bringing runners across. They rank in the major leagues’ bottom five in terms of total RBIs. Their power numbers haven’t been of much help, either.
Having shipped off one of their best bats in Andrew Benintendi — who’s now in New York — the Royals don’t have anyone who’s a regular in the order hitting better than .255. That would be rookie shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. Backstop Salvador Perez has a team-high 14 homers.
White Sox vs. Royals Betting Preview
Who Is Starting for the White Sox?
Lucas Giolito will take the mound for the hosts, having gone 6-6 in 18 starts thus far. He’s the owner of a 5.14 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP, both of which he’d like to improve upon.
The White Sox have dropped both of his last two outings — at Colorado and against Cleveland — and he’s only lasted a combined eight innings over that span. Against the Rockies, he allowed six hits and three earned runs over five innings.
Who Is Starting for the Royals?
Going up against him will be 27-year-old righty Brad Keller, who has a 5-11 mark and a 4.18 ERA. Kansas City hasn’t had the best luck with him on the hill recently, either.
In three of his five July outings, he allowed three earned runs or less. Two of those instances came against Detroit.
Chicago White Sox vs. Kansas City Royals Picks and Predictions
Now for the Royals vs. White Sox predictions. Neither pitcher has been all that reliable in MLB betting, which makes these MLB picks today pretty interesting.
The White Sox have had to deal with high expectations and, despite an effective offense, were limited in Tuesday’s matchup.
Against Keller, they’ll get back on track. It’s important that they do, too, because the AL Central is a tight race as it stands. Take Chicago to cover the spread in this one.
MLB Pick: White Sox -1.5 (+120)
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