The Tigers have hardly had the look of a team fighting for the playoffs while losing to the Royals the last two nights. With Jeremy Guthrie improving and Rick Porcello disappointing, take Kansas City to complete the sweep Thursday.
Look for the underdog to finish off an unlikely sweep on Thursday night when Rick Porcello and the very disappointing Detroit Tigers (69-60 overall, 30-34 away) take on a revived Jeremy Guthrie and the Kansas City Royals (58-71 overall, 28-33 home) in the final game of a three-game series from Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO at 8:10 ET.
The posted money line at 5 Dimes has Kansas City as a decided home underdog for this contestat current odds of +122.
The Tigers were picked by many to win the American League Central easily this season, but instead they are in danger of not even making the playoffs as they trail the first place Chicago White Sox by three games in the division and they are two games behind the Baltimore Orioles for the second and last wild card spot in the American League with the Tampa Bay Rays also sitting between those two teams.
And Detroit has only itself to blame as the Tigers keep losing to teams that they should beat at this crucial stage of the season, such as losing the first two games of this series to the Royals with their ace Justin Verlander and their big trade-deadline acquisition Anibal Sanchez on the mound. To make matters worse, they may not hold the pitching edge in tonight’s series finale.
Detroit’s starter Porcello was well hyped when he first came up as a 20-year-old three years ago, and he did show some flashes of brilliance while winning 38 games in his first three years including going 14-9 last year while helping the Tigers advance all the way to the ALCS.
However, Porcello has taken a major step backwards this season, which is disconcerting considering that he is still just 23 years of age. Porcello is lucky to be at .500 at 9-9 on the year, given that he has a 4.60 ERA, 1.49 WHIP and opponents are hitting an ungodly .311 off of him! His record is now catching up to those dreadful numbers though with Detroit no longer giving him the run support it did earlier in the year, and he is 0-3 in his last three starts.
Porcello definitely pitches to contact, as he has just 89 strikeouts but also only 33 walks in 146.2 innings, but that approach could backfire vs. a fine young Kansas City lineup that ranks fifth in the American League with a .266 team batting average and that is hitting a sparkling .283 vs. right handed pitchers at home while averaging a good 4.79 runs per nine innings against them here.
Kansas City is obviously not going anywhere this year as the Royals trail the White Sox by 14 games and these Tigers by 11 even after the last two wins, but keep in mind that they were in last place for a while and have continued to play hard. Kansas City has now moved up to third place by going 13-8 in its last 21 games, and the Royals are relishing the spoiler role as 12 of those 13 wins have could vs. teams that are either currently in the playoffs or fighting to get in.
They now look to play the spoiler role again with the rejuvenated Guthrie on the hill. Guthrie had a terrible first half of the year with the Colorado Rockies, and he did not fare well in his first two starts with the Royals after they acquired him either. However, seemingly out of nowhere, he then suddenly rediscovered his form by reeling off four straight Quality Starts including pitching 22.2 scoreless innings over three starts prior to his last outing.
Granted he then had that string of good starts snapped when he surrendered seven runs in just 2.2 innings to the Boston Red Sox on Saturday, but he now gets a chance to bounce back at home where he has a 2..81 ERA and a miniscule 0.90 WHIP in four starts covering 25.2 innings as a member of the Royals.
Look for Kansas City to deal another blow to Detroit’s playoff hopes by completing the three-game home sweep on Thursday.
The posted money line at 5 Dimes has Kansas City as a decided home underdog for this contestat current odds of +122.
The Tigers were picked by many to win the American League Central easily this season, but instead they are in danger of not even making the playoffs as they trail the first place Chicago White Sox by three games in the division and they are two games behind the Baltimore Orioles for the second and last wild card spot in the American League with the Tampa Bay Rays also sitting between those two teams.And Detroit has only itself to blame as the Tigers keep losing to teams that they should beat at this crucial stage of the season, such as losing the first two games of this series to the Royals with their ace Justin Verlander and their big trade-deadline acquisition Anibal Sanchez on the mound. To make matters worse, they may not hold the pitching edge in tonight’s series finale.
Detroit’s starter Porcello was well hyped when he first came up as a 20-year-old three years ago, and he did show some flashes of brilliance while winning 38 games in his first three years including going 14-9 last year while helping the Tigers advance all the way to the ALCS.
However, Porcello has taken a major step backwards this season, which is disconcerting considering that he is still just 23 years of age. Porcello is lucky to be at .500 at 9-9 on the year, given that he has a 4.60 ERA, 1.49 WHIP and opponents are hitting an ungodly .311 off of him! His record is now catching up to those dreadful numbers though with Detroit no longer giving him the run support it did earlier in the year, and he is 0-3 in his last three starts.
Porcello definitely pitches to contact, as he has just 89 strikeouts but also only 33 walks in 146.2 innings, but that approach could backfire vs. a fine young Kansas City lineup that ranks fifth in the American League with a .266 team batting average and that is hitting a sparkling .283 vs. right handed pitchers at home while averaging a good 4.79 runs per nine innings against them here.
Kansas City is obviously not going anywhere this year as the Royals trail the White Sox by 14 games and these Tigers by 11 even after the last two wins, but keep in mind that they were in last place for a while and have continued to play hard. Kansas City has now moved up to third place by going 13-8 in its last 21 games, and the Royals are relishing the spoiler role as 12 of those 13 wins have could vs. teams that are either currently in the playoffs or fighting to get in.
They now look to play the spoiler role again with the rejuvenated Guthrie on the hill. Guthrie had a terrible first half of the year with the Colorado Rockies, and he did not fare well in his first two starts with the Royals after they acquired him either. However, seemingly out of nowhere, he then suddenly rediscovered his form by reeling off four straight Quality Starts including pitching 22.2 scoreless innings over three starts prior to his last outing.
Granted he then had that string of good starts snapped when he surrendered seven runs in just 2.2 innings to the Boston Red Sox on Saturday, but he now gets a chance to bounce back at home where he has a 2..81 ERA and a miniscule 0.90 WHIP in four starts covering 25.2 innings as a member of the Royals.
Look for Kansas City to deal another blow to Detroit’s playoff hopes by completing the three-game home sweep on Thursday.
MLB Pick: Royals +122 +++
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий