The Kansas City Royals sit in second place in the American League Central face and will look to make up some ground on Sunday when they throw ace starting pitcher, Cole Ragans, at home against the Seattle Mariners.
Seattle Mariners vs. Kansas City Royals (-115, 8)
Ragans enters having allowed four total runs in his past four starts, with only three of them being earned runs. For the season, he has a 3.21 ERA with a 2.26 fielding independent.
Also helping Ragans’ cause is facing a Mariners’ lineup that strikes out at the highest rate in the league with nearly 10 strikeouts per game and striking out on nearly 27.5% of at-bats, which plays right to Ragans’ strength of getting 11 strikeouts per nine innings.
Mariners’ starting pitcher, George Kirby, will look to match or exceed Ragans’ production but he enters with some pretty large home and road splits.
Overall, Kirby has a 4.05 ERA with 1.1 home runs per nine innings allowed and a 3.13 fielding independent but sees his ERA jump to 5.35 with over 1.9 home runs per nine innings allowed on the road. While at home, he is supplying a 2.72 ERA with 0.3 home runs per nine innings allowed.
Kirby is tasked with shutting down a Royals’ offense that entered Saturday leading all MLB teams in runs per game at home with 5.6. Seattle has learned the hard way at how hot this offense can get, relinquishing an eight-run lead in Friday’s 10-9 loss.
With Kirby having allowed at least four runs in three of his past four road starts, the Royals, who entered the weekend with an American League-best 23 home wins this season, will add another home win to their ledger on Sunday.
The Play: Royals -115
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