The Kansas City Royals were 8-3 in their last 11 games heading into Sunday. That’s good enough to hold off the fire sale a little bit longer. Can this hot streak continue or is it a result of the competition with the Padres, Giants and Angels offering little in the way of competition? We will find out in the three-game series against the Boston Red Sox beginning on Monday. Boston is playing well right now, too. Their success appears to be a lot more sustainable, too.
This series will be contested from Monday, June 19, 2017 through Wednesday, June 21, 2017 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Wednesday's clash is being shown live on the MLB Network for those outside the local TV markets.
Bet on MLB odds at BookMaker.eu every day of the season.
Pitching Matchups
The Red Sox call for the next man up on Monday, giving Hector Velazquez his second big league start after Brian Johnson left Wednesday’s game with an injury.
Velaquez will be asked to outduel Jason Hammel who, despite a serious early season slump, has finally found his groove.
The veteran right-hander hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any of his last three starts, delivering a quality start in each. His ERA is still over five and his WHIP is high, too, but his walk rate is way down since the start of June, walking just a single batter in the month.
Despite the season numbers, Hammel has proven himself to be a solid major league starter. He won’t dominate the opposition, but when he’s going well, he’ll keep you in the game. He’s prone to stretches of poor performances, but seems to have that behind him for now.
In his career against the Sox, Hammel is just 1-3 with a 4.61 ERA so history is not exactly on his side even if the recent trends are in his corner.
Velaquez, meanwhile, provides little statistical data to go on, but hasn’t looked good so far in his limited big league chances, giving up six runs and three homers in 8.1 innings.
The 28-year old is a professional minor leaguer. He was pitching to a 4-1 record and 1.29 ERA in Triple-A Pawtucket and that’s after a very good season in Mexico last year.
The series continues Tuesday with a pair of lefties in very different places in their careers.
For the Sox, it’ll be Chris Sale on the mound. The Royals will look to Matt Strahm.
Sale is an absolute ace. He allowed one run in eight innings his last time out and although it was a loss, he’s still 8-3. His ERA is 2.82 and his FIP is even better at 1.78. He’s a strikeout machine with 136 in 99 innings and has struck out at least 10 in nine of his 14 starts.
The 28-year old tore up the league in April and into May before hitting a bit of a rough spot, he’s back now, with three straight quality starts in June, including his best start since an eighth inning shutout against Toronto in April his last time out.
Having played his entire career prior to this year in the AL Central, Sale has a ton of experience against KC, including during their World Series seasons. He’s 9-10 against them with a 2.97 ERA in 31 games and 20 starts.
For Strahm, this will be his second start of the year. He’s transitioned from the bullpen to fill the gap left by Danny Duffy. Like Sale earlier in his career, Strahm was doing well in the pen. Now he needs to stretch out and extend that success a few times through the order. Keep an eye on the walks. He has the stuff to get the big strikeout when needed, but is walking 6.3 per nine innings this year.
After a couple battles of veterans versus young guns, Wednesday’s series finale is a bit more balanced with Ian Kennedy against Drew Pomeranz. Neither starter is having the season they hoped to have.
Pomeranz has the better seasons stats, but Kennedy took a no-hitter into the sixth in his last start and earned his first win of the year.
Bullpen Breakdowns
The story for the Royals during their back-to-back World Series appearances was their bullpen and their speed. With Jarrod Dyson gone, the speed isn’t what it once was and neither is the bullpen.
Kansas City used to lead the world in bullpen ERA. This year, they’re sporting a 4.59 ERA, ranking No. 21. The Red Sox are second to the Indians with a 2.77 ERA.
Kelvim Herrera has not transitioned to the closer role as expected. He was a dynamic set up man, but has a 4.94 ERA in the closer role and has been especially prone to the home run ball, not a good trait late in a close game.
On top of Herrera’s struggles, Travis Wood and Peter Moylan have been huge disappointments. Matt Strahm was good, but he’s now in the rotation. Mike Minor has been a nice surprise and Joakim Soria has been okay, but that’s not enough to build a good pen.
Over his last 11 games, Herrera has allowed 10 runs in 10.1 innings. Soria has allowed seven in the same number of innings. That’s not a dependable back end of the bullpen.
The Sox bullpen continues to light up the radar gun and hang up zeros.
Boston has plenty of depth and breadth to its pen right now. Craig Kimbrel is lock down and so is Joe Kelly right now who has finally found his calling in the pen. Factor in Heath Hembree, Matt Barnes and Fernando Abad and options are seemingly limitless for John Ferrell.
Offensively Challenged
The Red Sox were the dominant offense in baseball last year. A year later, they’re average. The difference: David Ortiz.
Without Ortiz, the power has left the Sox lineup. Mookie Betts leads the way with 12 bombs and has heated up lately, but that’s not enough. Hanley Ramirez has been just about league average.
Just when it looked like Boston was starting to find its way offensively, the runs stopped coming again. Now, Boston has been outscored by all but two teams in the month of June.
One of the teams outscoring the Sox is the Royals. KC’s used the offense to help get closer to contention. They’ve scored 20 more runs in June than Boston and have done so with more power, more average and a better OBP.
The Royals lineup was dead in the water earlier in the year, but just as the Sox’s lineup has swooned, the Royals has heated up.
Lorenzo Cain is scorching hot. He’s hit eight homers in June and has a .373 average and 1.226 OPS. Mike Moustakas has similar numbers minus three homers.
For Boston, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts are trying to carry the offensive load, but Xander Bogaerts, Pablo Sandoval, Sany Leon, Christian Vazquez and even Hanley Ramirez are having rough Junes.
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go.
Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook!
