The Kansas City Royals and the Tampa Bay Rays meet Wednesday in MLB action from George M. Steinbrenner Field. This will be the second installment in a three-game series. Here’s a Rays vs Royals prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Rays vs Royals pick.
Kansas City Royals Betting Preview
The Royals opened up their year with a pair of series losses versus the Cleveland Guardians and the Milwaukee Brewers before taking wins in two of three games versus the Baltimore Orioles. Kansas City would get another series win over the Minnesota Twins, then fall in two of three during the rematch versus the Guardians. KC then got swept by the New York Yankees before losing three of four versus the Detroit Tigers. The Royals would gain some traction with a sweep over the Rockies, though, then won their first two games versus the Astros 2-0 in both. In the Sunday finale, the Royals gave up three runs in the third inning on the way to a 7-3 defeat. Kris Bubic went 5.0 innings with four earned runs as a starting pitcher.
Matched up against Tampa Bay on Tuesday, the Royals posted eight hits in a 3-1 victory. Kansas City’s Fred Fermin logged three hits with an RBI. Starter Michael Lorenzen managed 6.0 frames with one earned run on four hits and two walks alongside four strikeouts.
In the starter slot for Wednesday, Kansas City will send out No. 5 prospect Noah Cameron in his Major League debut. Cameron will fill in for Cole Ragans’ spot in the rotation here. Ragans is currently nursing a mild strain in his left groin.
Tampa Bay Rays Betting Preview
Over on the Rays’ side, they took victories in their first two sets of the season over the Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates. After falling to the Texas Rangers in a sweep and losing a set versus the Los Angeles Angels, Tampa Bay bagged a series win versus the Braves. The Rays then lost two of three versus Boston and three of four versus the Yankees in the next two series, but would beat the Diamondbacks in two of three from there. Tampa Bay beat the Padres 1-0 and 4-1 in their first two weekend games. On Sunday, the Rays made it a sweep, taking the win 4-2. Taylor Walls bagged a solo homer along the way, and Zack Littell put up 5.0 innings with two earned runs in the starting role.
In Tuesday’s matchup against KC, the Rays had Junior Caminero post a solo home run and three of the team’s eight hits. Yandy Diaz added two hits with a walk as well. Starting pitcher Taj Bradley lasted 7.0 innings with two earned runs on five hits and three walks, along with two Ks.
As the starting pitcher for Wednesday, Tampa Bay will send out Drew Rasmussen. So far this year, over five starts, Rasmussen is 1-1 with a 2.10 ERA in 25.2 innings total. Rasmussen is 21-13 with a 2.89 ERA in 104 games (55 starts) total.
Why the Tampa Bay Rays will win
- The Royals have lost 17 of their last 18 night games against AL East opponents following a road win.
- The Rays have won eight of their last nine night games against the Royals following a loss.
- The Rays have covered the run line in seven of their last eight games after playing the previous day.
- The Royals have failed to cover the run line in six of their last seven games as underdogs against the Rays following a win.
- The Royals have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last three night games against AL East opponents that held a losing record.
- The Rays have led after 5 innings in four of their last five games as favorites against AL Central opponents.
Why the Kansas City Royals will win
- The road team has won each of the Rays’ last six games.
- The Rays have lost each of their last six games against AL Central opponents.
- The Rays have failed to cover the run line in each of their last 13 Wednesday games as home favorites.
- The road team has covered the run line in each of the Rays’ last six games.
- The Rays have lost the first inning in four of their last five games against opponents that held a winning record at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
- The Rays have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last four games against American League opponents.
- The Rays have trailed after 5 innings in each of their last four games against American League opponents.
Total Runs Facts
- Each of the Royals’ last seven night games as underdogs have gone UNDER the total runs line.
- Seven of the Rays’ last eight games against AL Central opponents have gone UNDER the total runs line.
- The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in nine of the Rays’ last 10 games as home favorites against AL Central opponents.
- The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in nine of the Royals’ last 11 games as road underdogs against American League opponents.
Rays vs Royals Prediction
I’ll stick with Tampa Bay. Rasmussen does need a bit of a bounce-back start here, though. In his last outing versus Arizona on April 24, Rasmussen put up 5.0 innings with four earned runs on five hits and a walk in a no-decision. In his two starts prior to that, however, Rasmussen gave up just one earned run combined over 10.2 innings on seven hits and four walks. He went just 0-1 in that pair, however, so Rasmussen will likely need some help from the bullpen and bats in this one. On the other side, it’ll be interesting to see what Cameron can do in his MLB debut.
The Rays didn’t get a great offensive effort on Tuesday, save for Diaz and Caminero’s combined five hits. Pitching-wise, the team was pretty solid, though Eric Orze did give up an earned run in his inning on two hits. I like Tampa Bay to bounce back in the Wednesday matchup.