The Kansas City Royals (34-73 Overall, 19-36 Away) and Chicago White Sox (30-70 Overall, 20-33 Home) finish up a three-game series today. Game time is 2:10 p.m. E.T. Chicago leads the series seven games to two. However, they have lost the last two games and are looking to take one win away from this series. Our Royals play White Sox 2018 MLB pick has the moneyline odds favoring Chicago at -132. Kansas City is at +127. The over/under, which is 9.5, offers the over at -112 and under at -102. The run line odds have Kansas City at -165 (+1.5) and Chicago at +148 (-1.5).
Pitching
The Royals put righty Brad Keller (4-4 W/L, 3.43 ERA, 1.37 WHIP) on the mound today. Keller was relieving until he got the call on May 30 to start against the Minnesota Twins. He went three innings in that game, allowing one run on three hits. Keller, who’s won his last two starts, last pitched on July 28 against the Yankees. He went 5.2 innings, giving up four runs on nine hits. The final score was 10-5, as he notched the win. In five starts in July, he’s 2-2-1 and the team is 2-3. Keller is on the upswing.
Reynaldo Lopez (4-9 W/L, 4.57 ERA, 1.39 WHIP) will start for Chicago. Lopez last won on July 1 when he pitched 6.1 innings against the Texas Rangers. In that game, he let two runs cross the plate while giving up seven hits. The White Sox won that game 10-5. Since then, the righty has struggled, going 0-4. In those four losses, he allowed 21 runs on 27 hits over 21.2 innings. In his last outing, which was a 10-5 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, he pitched 4.1 innings, giving up eight runs on seven hits while serving up five homerun balls.
Hitting
For the Royals, Whit Merrifield (.296 BA, 32 RBI, 5 HRs) is a solid presence at the plate. He’s smacked a club-best 120 hits and 31 doubles. Rosell Herrera has been a welcome addition to the Royals, as he’s batting a sound .287. Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez have been on a tear as of late with the former batting .333 and the latter .320 over the past week. If they can keep connecting with the ball, they’ll be dangerous today.
The White Sox are led by Jose Abreu (.260 BA, 59 RBI, 16 HRs). He’s tops in five major offensive categories, including OBP (.324) and hits (106). Abreu is hitting just .244 versus K.C. If Tim Anderson can get on base, he’s batting just .244, he’s dangerous. He’s got 21 stolen bases. Yolmer Sanchez (.250 BA, 43 RBI, 6 HRs) offers some decent offensive chops. Although he’s struggled the past week, batting .167.
Our Royals Play White Sox 2018 MLB Pick
It’s true that Chicago is favored in this game. But we think that starting pitching favors Kansas City. The relief stats tend to even out with these two teams. Hitting stats for both of these teams are fairly similar with the White Sox having a slight edge. But Royals hitters have been smacking the ball this week. Our Royals play White Sox 2018 MLB pick is Kansa City at +127. We like the over in this game, which is at -112 (9.5).
Summary Kansas City at Chicago Picks: Royals at +127 and over 9.5 (-112)
