Royals vs. Blue Jays: Picks, predictions, how to watch Friday’s game

The Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays square off on Friday 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. Zack Greinke (3-5, 4.52 ERA) will throw for the Royals, and the Blue Jays will start Alek Manoah (9-4, 2.34 ERA).

Kansas City (36-53) won five of its last six games despite having one of the worst records in the MLB heading into Friday night. Greinke will make start No. 15 in his second stint with the Royals, and he threw 5 scoreless innings in his last outing against the Cleveland Guardians. Kansas City scores the fifth-fewest runs per game (3.9), and rookie Bobby Witt Jr. homered last night to extend his team lead in homers (13) and RBIs (46).

Toronto (47-43) won consecutive games against the Philadelphia Phillies heading into yesterday’s 3-1 loss to the Royals. Manoah is having a fantastic start to his MLB career in two years in the big leagues through 17 starts in 2022. He allowed 2 runs over 7.1 innings last weekend in a loss to the Seattle Mariners. The Blue Jays rank No. 4 in OPS (.757), and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered 20 times this season with 56 RBIs.

Royals vs. Blue Jays

Pitchers: Zack Greinke vs. Alek Manoah
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 (-155)
Run total: 8
Moneyline odds: Blue Jays -340, Royals +280

Moneyline pick: Royals +280

This is strictly a value play because you’ll need to risk a significant amount of money to get any sort of return riding with the Blue Jays in this spot. Greinke is not what he was earlier in his career when he was one of the best pitchers in baseball, but he is good enough to put the Royals in position to pick up a victory.

Player prop pick: Zack Greinke Under 3.5 strikeouts (-170)

The Royals starter is putting up very low strikeout totals in Year 19 as an MLB pitcher. He has a 4.8 K/9 with a significant sample size in 2022, and the Blue Jays strike out the ninth-fewest times per game (7.8).

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