Guardians prediction, odds, pick, how to watch
It is an AL Central battle as the Kansas City Royals face the Cleveland Guardians. It is time to continue our MLB odds series with a Royals-Guardians prediction, pick, and how-to-watch.
The Guardians and Royals have both won once through the first two games of the series. In game one, Salvador Perez hit his 200th career homerun off Logan Allen in the sixth inning to give Kansas City a four-run lead. Game two saw Bo Naylor open the scoring. Naylor hit a home run in the third inning off potential trade target Zach Greinke. The Royals tied it up in the top of the fifth, but the Guardians struck back. After a Will Brennan RBI single, Bo Naylor hit his second home run of the game, this time a two-run shot. Jose Ramirez added another RBI in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 5-1 lead, and to take the win.
With the loss, the Royals dropped to 29-74 on the season and are well out of the playoff race. Meanwhile, the Guardians are now 50-51 on the season and are three games back of the Twins for first place in the AL Central. The Guardians did just take a blow to their playoff chances though. Shane Bieber was moved to the 60-day IL.
Here are the Royals-Guardians MLB odds,
MLB Odds: Royals-Guardians Odds
Kansas City Royals: +1.5 (-110)
Cleveland Guardians: -1.5 (-110)
Over: 10 (-118)
Under: 10 (-104)
How To Watch Royals vs. Guardians
TV: KCSP/WTAM
Stream: MLB.TV
Time: 1:10 PM ET/ 10:10 AM PT
*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Royals Could Cover The Spread
The Royals' offense has struggled all year long. They are 29th in runs scored, 25th in batting average, 30th in on-base percentage, and 28th in slugging percentage. Salvador Perez hit a home run in the first game, the 200th of his career. It was his second home run in the last three games and his only two home runs of the month. Perez is not having the best month in July. He is hitting just .217 this month with four RBIs and a double.
Michael Massey is hitting better as of late as well. In his last four games he is 5-15 with three home runs and six RBIs. He has also scored four times in the last four games. On the month he has three home runs and nine RBIs. That is helped by a double and a triple. Still, he is not hitting great this month. He is hitting just .204 on the month with a .220 on-base percentage. Meanwhile, Bobby Witt Jr. continued to drive in runs. He has 12 RBIS on the month with the help of four home runs, two triples, and five doubles. He is hitting .291 on the month with a .318 on-base percentage.
Maikel Garcia is also having a solid month for the Royals. He has two home runs with 11 RBIs this month. It is a huge month for Garcia because he has just four home runs and 29 RBIs on the year. Garvia has four doubles on the month while hitting .282 and holding a .326 on-base percentage. He has also curbed his strikeouts as of late. He has struck out 17 times in the month, but just three in his last six games.
Alec Marsh will be making his fifth start of the year today for the Royals. He is 0-4 on the year with a 6.20 ERA. After a horrible first start of the season, in which he gave up five runs in four innings. He also struggle last time out, giving up five runs with three home runs in 5.1 innings of work. This year, Marsh has given up a home run in each of his four starts while giving up two or more runs in all of them.
Why The Guardians Could Cover The Spread
For the Guardians to keep winning, it is going to have to rely on their pitching. They are seventh in the majors in team ERA this year, while sitting tenth in WHIP, and eighth in opponent batting average. Gavin Williams will be making his seventh start of the season today. He is 1-2 on the year with a 3.74 ERA. His last time out he went four innings and gave up just one run. This year has been up and down overall for Williams. He has three starts where he has given up two or fewer runs while also having three starts where he has given up three or more runs.
The reason the Guardians need a good pitching performance is the poor offense that they have. They are tied for 24th in runs scored, 21st in on-base percentage, and 25th in slugging. The Guardians are sitting 14th in batting average though. The Naylor brothers continue to produce for the Guardians. Josh Naylor leads the team in batting average, home runs, and RBIs. His batting average ranks eighth in the majors, while his RBI total sits fifth. This month he is hitting .329. Meanwhile, Naylor has five home runs and 18 RBIs this month.
Brother Bo Naylor hit two home runs last night, which gives him three in the month. Bo Naylor is hitting just .237 on the month, but he does have nine RBIS and has scored five times. Meanwhile, Josh Bell continues to have a great month going. He is hitting .279 on the month with three home runs and 11 RBIs. He also has scored seven times with the help of three doubles this month. Bell has been seeing the ball well recently. He has just ten strikeouts, while he has walked five times. That gives him a .338 on-base percentage for the month.
Final Royals-Guardians Prediction & Pick
The pitching edge in this one goes to the Guardians. While Gavin Williams has not been great this year, he has been better than Alec Marsh. The Guardians have the better offense, even though the offense is not great. The Guardians have more pop in the offense and have more power bats against a pitcher that will give up home runs. They will hit a few today and get the win.
Final Royals-Guardians Prediction & Pick: Guardians -1.5 (-110)
