Kansas City Royals (41-64) vs Boston Red Sox (53-53)
Game Info: Thursday, August 4, 2022 at 8:10 pm (Ewing M. Kauffman Stadium)
Kris Bubic (2-6) (5.45) vs Nick Pivetta (8-8) (4.47)
Betting Odds: Kansas City Royals +115 / Boston Red Sox -135 --- Over/Under: 9 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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The Boston Red Sox will play the Kansas City Royals in Game 1 of their series at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday night.
The Boston Red Sox are 53-53 this season and have won three of their last four games. Boston is coming off of a series win against Houston, where they won two out of the three games played in the series. The Boston pitching staff has a 4.27 ERA, a 1.31 WHIP, and a .249 opponent batting average this season. The Red Sox offense has scored 474 runs with a .252 batting average and a .313 on base percentage. Rafael Devers is batting .322 with 23 home runs and 57 RBI’s for the Red Sox this season. The projected starter for Boston is Nick Pivetta, who is 8-8 with a 4.47 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP over 118.2 innings pitched this season.
The Kansas City Royals are 41-64 this season and have lost seven of their last nine games. Kansas City is coming off of a series loss against the White Sox, where they lost two out of the three games played. The Kansas City pitching staff has a 4.70 ERA, a 1.47 WHIP, and a .266 opponent batting average. The Royals offense has scored 399 runs with a .244 batting average and a .307 on base percentage this year. Bobby Witt is batting .255 with 15 home runs and 52 RBI’s for the Royals this season. The projected starter for Kansas City is Kris Bubic, who is 2-6 with a 5.45 ERA and a 1.60 WHIP over 74.1 innings pitched this season.
Boston is 9-2 in their last 11 games against the AL Central and 1-4 in their last 5 Thursday games. The under is 4-0 in Boston’s last 4 games. Kansas City is 5-2 in their last 7 game one’s of a series and 2-7 in their last 9 games. The under is 5-0 in Kansas City’s last 5 home games. Boston is 16-5 in these two teams last 21 head to head meetings.
Both of these teams have been disappointing this season, but Kansas City has been one of the worst teams in all of baseball. Kansas City is starting Kris Bubic, who has a 5.45 ERA and has allowed five runs in his last 20 innings pitched. For Boston, Nick Pivetta has allowed 12 runs over his last 15 innings pitched. Neither of these pitchers have had good seasons, but Bubic has looked much improved in his last few outings. I do think the offenses will get going here and I am taking the over.