MLB Baseball BETTING PREVIEW - Kansas City Royals @ Baltimore Orioles

MLB Baseball

2026-07-10 - Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles

A Sports Betting Preview by FirstDown

Kansas City Royals @ Baltimore Orioles
United States : Major League Baseball
Friday 10th July 2026 - Scheduled 7:05pm EST
12:05am (British Time)

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Preview

Two basement dwellers in the American League are hoping to pick up some late momentum ahead of the All Star Break and give upper management something to think about ahead of the trade deadline. The Baltimore Orioles (43-51) are 12.5 games out of the lead in the American League East, but 4 games out of the Wild Card places, while the Kansas City Royals (38-56) are 10 games behind the leaders in the American League Central, although 9 games out of the Wild Card picture as well.

That makes the Royals much more likely to be destined to be sellers at the trade deadline, while the Baltimore Orioles need to put some wins together over the weekend to keep trade talks quiet.

They won on Thursday to salvage something out of a three game set with the Chicago Cubs and the Baltimore Orioles will hand the ball to Brandon Young for this opening game of this series. The pitcher has a 7-2 record and 3.38 ERA in fourteen starts and Young has shown a lot more in this sophomore campaign compared with his rookie one in 2025.

Brandon Young has a 4-1 record in the last six starts made since the beginning of June, but he is an inexperienced pitcher and there can be some up and down performances on the mound. He still holds a solid enough 3.41 ERA from those six starts, but Young did allow four runs in 5 Innings thrown in the first outing in July and can be thankful to the Baltimore batting lineup for helping him still pick up another decision win.

This will be the first time Brandon Young faces the Kansas City Royals in his career and he can take encouragement from the fact that the Orioles took two of three against this opponent earlier this season. After a positive run of wins, Kansas City also enter this series behind consecutive losses, which should also give the pitcher some confidence.

Kansas City will counter by handing the ball to Luinder Avila who has a 4-3 record and 5.05 ERA in seventeen appearances in what is his second year in the Major League. Eight of those seventeen appearances has been as a starter and this game will be the eighth in a row having been out of the rotation for a couple of months until June.

Luinder Avila has shown some positive form during that run of starts- in five of seven, Avila has contained teams to less than two runs, although the exceptions has seen the young pitcher roughed up.

He held the Philadelphia Phillies to a single run in 5 Innings thrown in the opening start in June and Luinder Avila will be facing the Baltimore Orioles for the first time in the Major League.

Prediction

Both second year pitchers have been producing solid numbers on the mound, but the edge here has to be with the Baltimore Orioles who won on Thursday.

The Kansas City Royals did put in some big time scoring numbers last week, but this is a team that has struggled for consistency and that could see Brandon Young set the table for a success over Luinder Avila and the road team.

The Pick :

Baltimore Orioles 4-3 Kansas City Royals

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Baltimore Orioles to Win at -145 with EveryGame Sports