The Chicago Cubs suffered an unusual blowout loss last night as they fell to the Kansas City Royals 12-4 at Wrigley Field. Lightning doesn’t typically strike twice, so the Cubbies look to get back in the win column this evening in the second leg of this series. Will Chicago’s usually-potent offense show up to play, or will the underdog Royals steal another W on the road?
Here’s a Cubs vs. Royals prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for Tuesday evening’s contest as this series continues.
Cubs vs. Royals prediction, preview
The Cubs had a chance to win their 60th game of the year and join the Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers in that exclusive club last night, but it didn’t come to fruition as Kansas City’s offense exploded in a massive 12-run effort with four home runs. Two of those came from Royals catcher Salvador Perez in a vintage performance — it seems Father Time may not have caught up to the future Hall-of-Famer after all as he keeps slugging away with a 1.273 OPS in July. Kyle Isbel also tallied three hits while both Nick Loftin and John Rave knocked two hits apiece along with Perez and Maikel Garcia.
The Cubs weren’t as fortunate with nine hits and just four runs to show for it. It was an atypically-quiet outing for Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki, who went a combined 0-for-7 at the plate with just a walk on the evening for Tucker on the night. Chicago did launch two homers courtesy of Carson Kelly and Matt Shaw to produce their only runs, but ultimately came up way short as the bullpen game didn’t work out in their favor.
Here’s the deal for tonight. The Cubs did miss Pete Crow-Armstrong last night, but the All-Star centerfielder returns to the lineup this evening to provide a major boost. Other stars like Tucker and Suzuki should both have better games on Tuesday as well, so it makes sense to anticipate a rebound for Chicago. Plus, the 49-52 Royals typically don’t hit nearly as well as they did yesterday in an outing which looked like a mere flash in the pan for a team which falls second-to-last in scoring this season.
Cubs vs. Royals pick, best bet
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Cubs as strong -259 Moneyline favorites at home tonight. The Royals are far behind at +207 on the Moneyline with the run total set at nine.
DraftKings Network just introduced a new probable pitchers page to track daily starter matchups, so be sure to check that out ahead of the game! Tonight, the Cubs start lefty Matthew Boyd (2.34 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 102 SO) against Rich Hill, a 45-year-old who hasn’t thrown a single MLB inning this season while working in the minor leagues to the tune of a 4-4 record and 5.36 ERA in nine starts. The lefty makes history in multiple ways — he’ll tie a record by playing for his 14th MLB franchise, and join a club with just five other players age 45 or older to make an MLB start since 2000.
Hill’s job tonight is simply to eat up innings. He’ll likely do so, but the Cubs could feast off the veteran early in this contest since they’re one of the highest-scoring teams in all of baseball. I fully expect Chicago to shell the left-hander, so I’m looking at them to score over 1.5 runs through the first three innings. Hill’s story is a great one, but he may not truly be MLB-caliber at this point in time. That’s something bettors can capitalize on.
Best bet: CHI Cubs over 1.5 runs in first three innings (-120)
Click the odds on this bet to tail!
