The Kansas City Royals have gone through a rough patch in June, posting a record of 11-18 in their past 29 games entering their series at home with the Cleveland Guardians and turn to ace Cole Ragans to get them back on track on Saturday.
Cleveland Guardians vs. Kansas City Royals (-110, 8)
Ragans has pitched better than the surface level numbers of a 5-5 record and 3.03 ERA would indicate, allowing just 0.5 home runs per nine innings while also getting 11 strikeouts per nine innings for a 2.55 fielding independent.
Backing up Ragans is a lineup that entered the series averaging just under 5.2 runs per game at home this season with the Guard being the lone American League team scoring more runs per game at home this season.
The Guardians do experience quite an offensive drop off when they leave Cleveland, averaging more than 0.66 runs per game fewer on the road than at home and look to Tanner Bibee for a good start on the mound.
Bibee enters with a 3.50 ERA and 3.11 fielding independent, getting 10.9 strikeouts to 2.3 walks per nine innings this season while being backed up by a Guardians bullpen who’s 2.36 ERA leads the league while no other bullpen entered Friday with an ERA below 3.07.
Despite the Guardians bullpen edge, with the Royals offense scoring nearly 1.4 runs per game more at home than on the road and with Ragans throwing how he has all season, the Royals will pick up a win on Saturday.
The Play: Royals -110
See which team DraftKings bettors are backing.
