The Kansas City Royals (43-28) padded their lead atop the American League Central division after a 3-2 win over the Oakland Athletics (34-43) on Saturday. With the unreliable Jeremy Guthrie on the mound for them in the series finale, will the Royals overcome Oakland anew to complete a three-game sweep of the A’s? Or will Oakland punctuate the series with a victory?
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[sc:MLBArticles ]Kansas City Royals vs. Oakland Athletics Preview
Where: O.co Coliseum, Oakland
When: Sunday, June 28, 2015, 4:05 PM ET
Line: Kansas City Royals (+142) vs. Oakland Athletics (-157); total: 7.5 – view all MLB lines
Betting on the Kansas City Royals
[sc:MLB240banner ]The Royals are on a three-game win streak, but with Jeremy Guthrie on the mound, their chances of extending that to four games appear to be on peril.
Guthrie (5-5, 5.90 ERA) had another catastrophic performance in his last start, wherein he gave up six runs on nine hits in just five innings of duty in the Royals’ 7-0 loss to Seattle last Tuesday. It was a big letdown for Guthrie, who’s actually doing better over his previous four starts, wherein he went 1-1 and gave up just eight runs across 23 innings. Considering Guthrie looked extremely bad against a Seattle offense that is among the worst in the majors, the Royals should know better than leave the game against Oakland in the hands of the righty. In other words, Kansas City’s prolific offense is hard pressed to deliver later today.
To be fair, though, Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, and the rest of the Royals hitters are doing just that whenever Guthrie is on the mound (with the exception of their loss to the Mariners) as they are supplying 4.60 runs per nine innings pitched by the 11-year veteran.
Cleanup hitter Kendrys Morales is batting .364 (8-22) over his last six games, while Alcides Escobar is right behind him with .346 (9-26) over the same stretch. As for Moustakas and Hosmer, they are hitting .300 and .269, respectively, also during the Royals’ previous six games. Hosmer is 3-for-4 (.750) in his career against Oakland starter, Jesse Chavez.
The under is 4-0-1 in Guthrie’s last five starts overall.
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Betting on the Oakland Athletics
Like Guthrie, Jesse Chavez didn’t look sharp in his most recent outing, as he surrendered five earned runs on eight hits in just five innings in the A’s 8-6 loss to Texas on Tuesday. But that’s where the similarities end between the two pitchers. All things considered, Chavez is a far better pitcher than what his 4-6 record suggests.
Chavez, who owns a solid 2.90 ERA, isn’t getting the run support that he deserves. Among American League starters with at least 70 innings pitched thus far this year, Chavez’s 3.39 RS/9 is eighth fewest. Hopefully, the same kind of robust offense that showed up in his start against Texas will back him up again in the series finale against Kansas City
The A’s, who are fourth in the majors in runs per game with an average of 4.51, will be banking on the team’s apparent familiarity of Guthrie’s stuff. The A’s have a collective triple slash line of .297/.340/.409 opposite the Royals’ starter. Josh Reddick is 8-for-25 (.320) in his career against Guthrie. Ben Zobrist, meanwhile, is 13-for-44 (.295) with three doubles and a triple in the same matchup.
The A’s are 6-4 in Chavez’s last 10 home starts.
Writer’s Prediction
Oakland (-157) wins, 6-4.
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