Pick on the Total for Royals-Red Sox on August 7

The Boston Red Sox have slipped to last place in the American League East and are looking to get back in the playoff picture on Monday as they play host to the Kansas City Royals.

Kansas City Royals vs Boston Red Sox (-205, 10)

Brayan Bello gets the start on the mound for the Red Sox and enters having allowed three runs or fewer in 15 of his past 17 starts, carrying a 3.79 ERA with 1.3 home runs per nine innings this season, but has done his best work at home.

Bello has a 3.29 ERA at home with 0.8 home runs per nine innings in 10 home starts this season compared to a 4.27 ERA with 1.9 home runs per innings allowed on the road this season.

Much like Bello, the Red Sox lineup has some pretty big home and road splits with the team leading the league in home batting average with a ..291 mark entering Sunday compared to .235 on the road with over 5.5 runs per game at home compared to 4.3 runs per game on the road.

The Red Sox the past three weeks, dating back to their game on July 18 against the Oakland Athletics, has had a tough time generating run production both at at home and on the road with an average of 3.9 runs per game their last 16 games, which is 26th in the league in that span.

While the Royals enter the series having scored at least four runs in eight of their last nine games, they are still last in the league in runs per game on the road with 3.4, have just two players with at least 10 home runs this season, and are last in road on-base percentage.

The Royals look to starting pitcher Cole Ragans to keep things going as he has a 4.33 ERA this season in his time with the Royals and Texas Rangers, but in his two starts since getting traded to Kansas City has allowed just one run across 11 innings.

With the Red Sox having scored four runs of fewer in eight of their last nine games and the Royals offensive issues on the road this season, Monday’s series opener will not involve a lot of scoring.

The Play: Royals vs. Red Sox Under 10