The Tampa Bay Rays enter Sunday’s series finale at home against the Kansas City Royals below .500 and looking to get into the American League Playoff picture.
Kansas City Royals vs. Tampa Bay Rays (-120, 8)
The start at pitcher for the Rays goes to Taj Bradley, who enters with a 4.00 ERA but also a 3.41 fielding independent with 11.5 strikeouts and 1.5 walks issued per nine innings this season.
While the Rays bullpen has been rough this season entering Saturday ranked 24th in the league with a 4.57 ERA, they entered Saturday with a 3.75 ERA in the past 30 days, ranking 13th among MLB teams in that span.
The Royals’ bullpen is trending the opposite way, as they entered Saturday ranked 19th in the league in bullpen ERA at 4.07, but in the past 30 days, they ranked 24th with a 4.86 ERA in that span.
Michael Wacha, who has a 4.45 ERA with 7.5 strikeouts and 2.9 walks per nine innings this season with five of the six home runs he has allowed this season coming on the road, will look to keep the workload at a minimum for the bullpen as he gets the start for Kansas City.
The Royals’ offense has not produced the same on the road as they have at home, entering Saturday averaging nearly 1.4 runs per game more at home than on the road with an American League-best 5.5 runs per game at home compared to 4.1 runs per game away from home, which is 19th in the league.
With the Rays bullpen pitching better of late coupled with the Royals’ issues producing offense on the road, the Rays will close out the series on Sunday with a win.
The Play: Rays -120
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