Kansas City Royals (63-50) vs Boston Red Sox (59-51)
Game Info: Wednesday, August 7, 2024 at 8:10 pm (Ewing M. Kauffman Stadium)
The Line: Betting Odds: Kansas City Royals -135 / Boston Red Sox +115 — Over/Under:
The Boston Red Sox and the Kansas City Royals meet Wednesday in MLB action from Kauffman Stadium. Here’s a Boston Red Sox vs Kansas City Royals prediction. This will be the third installment in a three-game series. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Red Sox vs Royals pick. We will examine:
The Kansas City Royals recent form and player performance
The Boston Red Sox recent form and player performance
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Kansas City Royals
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Boston Red Sox
Recent betting trends in games played between the Royals and Red Sox
A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Royals vs Red Sox game
Boston Red Sox Betting Preview
Over the weekend the Red Sox took on the Texas Rangers. Boston lost 7-4 on Saturday but won the other pair of games 11-6 and 7-2. After a 9-5 win over KC in the opener, on Tuesday the Sox eked out a 6-5 win. Brayan Bello lasted 4.2 innings in the start, giving up three earned on five hits and three walks.
Starter for Wednesday’s finale will be Boston’s Kutter Crawford. This year Crawford is 7-8 with a 3.81 ERA in 22 starts. Crawford is 16-23 with a 4.39 ERA in 75 games (58 starts) in his career.
Kansas City Royals Betting Preview
Over on the Royals’ side, they took on the Detroit Tigers in their last series. Kansas City lost 6-5 on Saturday but otherwise took three wins to pull out a victory in the series. On Tuesday the Royals mounted a comeback in the eighth but unfortunately fell short. Starter Seth Lugo managed 5.1 innings and four earned runs.
It’ll be Cole Ragans in the starter role for the Royals on Wednesday. This year Ragans is 8-7 with a 3.36 ERA in 23 starts. Ragans is 15-15 with a 3.63 ERA in 61 career games (44 starts).
Total Runs Facts
- Each of the Red Sox’s last seven night games after playing the previous day have gone OVER the total runs line.
- Each of the Royals’ last four night games after playing the previous day have gone OVER the total runs line.
Kansas City Royals Player Prop Facts
- Vinnie Pasquantino has hit at least one home run in four of the Royals’ last six games as favorites against AL opponents.
- MJ Melendez has recorded a Double in each of his last three appearances with the Royals as favorites against AL East opponents.
- Kyle Isbel has scored at least one run in eight of his last nine appearances in night games against teams that held a winning record.
- Vinnie Pasquantino has recorded at least one RBI in each of the Royals’ last nine games at Kauffman Stadium against AL opponents that held a winning record.
- Vinnie Pasquantino has recorded two or more total bases in each of the Royals’ last nine games at Kauffman Stadium against opponents that held a winning record.
- Bobby Witt Jr. has recorded at least one Single in each of the Royals’ last seven home games against AL opponents.
- Vinnie Pasquantino has recorded at least one hit in each of the Royals’ last 10 games as favorites against AL opponents.
- Cole Ragans ranks 5th in the league for total Strikeouts (159) this season.
Boston Red Sox Player Prop Facts
- Masataka Yoshida has scored at least one run in each of his last seven appearances against AL opponents that held a winning record.
- Masataka Yoshida has recorded at least one Single in each of his last seven appearances in night games against teams that held a winning record.
- Tyler O’Neill has hit a home run in two of his last three road appearances against the Royals.
- Dominic Smith has recorded at least one total base in each of his last eight appearances with the Red Sox as road underdogs against AL opponents.
- Dominic Smith has recorded at least one hit in each of his last eight appearances with the Red Sox as road underdogs against AL opponents.
- Tyler O’Neill has recorded at least one RBI in four of his last five appearances against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
- Dominic Smith has recorded at least one Double in six of his last seven appearances.
- Jarren Duran ranks T7th in the league in Steals (27) this season.
Matchup/League Facts
- The Kansas City Royals rank T3rd in the league for triples this season (28).
- The Kansas City Royals rank 28th in the league for walks this season (299).
- The Boston Red Sox rank 2nd in the league for batting average this season (.263).
- The Boston Red Sox rank 2nd in the league for slugging percentage this season (.445).
Boston Red Sox vs Kansas City Royals Prediction
I’ll go with the Royals. Kansas City needs a quality start from Ragans, though. He’s coming off two earned in 5.2 innings in a win over Detroit. Prior to that however, Ragans had seven earned in 11.2 innings of work over two outings. As for Crawford, he’s given up 10 earned runs over his last 10.0 innings.
In the Tuesday game the Royals gave up three runs in the sixth inning and couldn’t crawl out of the hole. The good news is that the pen gave up only one hit in 3.2 innings; the bad news is that a lot of hitters came up empty. Still, I think KC has a decent shot Wednesday.