The Boston Red Sox (69-65) enter Sept. 6 1/2 games back in the American League Wild Race, giving them the faintest of postseason heartbeats. They’ll have a golden oppertunity to make up some ground this weekend when they travel to Kansas City to take on the lowly Royals (41-94). James Paxton (7-4, 3.99 ERA) gets the ball on Friday for Boston, while Jordan Lyles (3-15, 6.51 ERA) will get the start for Kansas City. First pitch is scheduled for 8:10 p.m. ET.
The Red Sox are -180 moneyline favorites at DraftKings Sportsbook, while the Royals are +150 underdogs. The total is set at 9.5.
Red Sox-Royals picks: Friday, September 1st
Injury report
Red Sox
Out: RP Brennan Bernardino (health & safety), OF Jarren Duran (left toe contusion), INF Pablo Reyes (left elbow inflammation), SP/RP Corey Kluber (right shoulder inflammation), RP Zack Kelly (right elbow surgery)
Royals
Day-to-day: C Salvador Perez (upper back/neck tightness)
Out: 1B Nick Pratto (left groin strain), SP Daniel Lynch IV (left shoulder strain), RP John McMillon (right forearm strain)
Starting pitchers
James Paxton vs. Jordan Lyles
Paxton enters tonight’s start in a bit of a slide, as he hasn’t gone more than four innings in either of his last two starts, and is coming off a start against the Dodgers when he allowed four runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings. With Boston coming off a sweep against the Astros that taxed their bullpen, they’ll be looking to get some length out of 34-year-old. He tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings against the Royals on August 10.
Lyles has gotten knocked around the yard this season, as he leads the all of baseball in losses (15) and earned runs (103) while also leading the American League in home runs allowed (33). In his start against Boston on August 9, he allowed four runs on seven hits in eight innings.
Over/Under pick
Even with Lyles on the mound, I still like this under, as these two teams hit the under in three of their four games last month. While Lyles is the big question mark here, he’s been asked to eat a lot of innings on the mound this season (he leads all of baseball with three complete games), so if he duplicates his four runs allowed in eight-inning effort from the last time these teams played then we should be set.
Pick: Under 9.5
Moneyline pick
Boston needs to play near-perfect baseball the rest of the way to make it to the postseason. They won’t need to play perfect baseball to beat the lowly Royals.
Pick: Red Sox