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The Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays square off on Thursday with first pitch set for 7:07 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Angel Zerpa (1-1) will start for the Royals, while Kevin Gausman (6-6, 2.86) will take the mound for the Blue Jays.
Kansas City (35-53) won four of its last five games heading into this four-game series with Toronto. After a long wait, the team announced that second-year pitcher Zerpa would take the mound, down and out with 10 unvaccinated players unable to make the trip into Toronto due to travel restrictions. The Royals average the fifth-fewest runs per game (4.0), and rookie Bobby Witt Jr. leads the team with 12 home runs and 45 RBIs.
Toronto (47-42) will go for its third consecutive victory on Thursday night after sweeping a two-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies. Gausman has not taken the hill since July 2 with a bruised right ankle, so it will be interesting to see how he looks in his first game back. Yesterday was the Blue Jays’ first game since manager Charlie Montoyo was fired as John Schneider took over on an interim basis.
Royals vs. Blue Jays
Pitchers: Angel Zerpa vs. Kevin Gausman
First pitch: 7:07 p.m. ET
Royals local broadcast: Bally Sports Kansas City
Blue Jays local broadcast: Sportsnet
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Odds, picks & predictions
Run Line: Blue Jays -1.5 (-190)
Run total: 8.5
Moneyline odds: Blue Jays -380, Royals +310
Moneyline pick: Blue Jays -380
The Jays have home field advantage Thursday and are set up to face a depleted Royals lineup, without several starting pitchers, OFs Andrew Benintendi and Michael Taylor, catcher MJ Melendez, 1B Hunter Dozier and 2B Whit Merrifield. Thursday’s starting pitcher Angel Zerpa has just one career start under his belt, having allowed four hits and two runs over in seven innings pitched. Yeah... we’ll take the Jays to win this one.
Player prop pick: Coming soon.
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