MLB Baseball
2011-04-27 - Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Indians
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: MLB Baseball
Wednesday 27 April 2011 - First Pitch 7:05pm ET
12:05am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The Cleveland Indians (14-8) will look to improve the American League's best record while also pushing the Kansas City Royals (12-11) back to .500 as they continue their series at Progressive Field.
The Indians won Game 1 of the series thanks to 5 home runs being belted out of the ball park. There is real hope in Cleveland that they may have a team as a number of the batters are hot and it makes it look like a collective effort rather than a couple of batters leading the way.
Cleveland can also win their 9th home game in a row, a mark they have not achieved since 2005, after winning 9-4 last night. They have outscored opponents 48-17 during their 8 game winning run.
Josh Tomlin will be given the ball as he looks to continue his hot start in just his 2nd Major League season. Tomlin is 3-0 this season with a 2.33 ERA and looked set to win his 4th game after giving up just 1 run in 7 innings against Kansas City last week. However, the bullpen lost the game 3-2.
Tomlin is 2-1 from 4 starts against the Royals, although would like to improve the 4.44 ERA. He did pitch a complete game against Kansas City last season in a 7-3 home win in September.
The Royals are struggling and have now lost their last 4 road games and 7 of the last 9 overall after making a strong start to the season.
Kansas City will send Jeff Francis to counter Tomlin. Francis is 0-2 to start the season and has a 4.06 ERA. The pitcher has not really received the run support he deserved after posting 4 quality starts in a row, although Texas had their way with him last time out, scoring 6 runs off 9 hits in under 5 innings.
Head to Head
Cleveland have won 5 of the last 7 games between the teams, although they split a 4 game series in Kansas City last week.
The Indians have won their last 4 home games with the Royals, outscoring them 28-11 in those games.
Cleveland are 3-4 in Game 2's this season, although are 3-2 when posting a win in Game 1.
Kansas City are 5-2 in Game 2's, really bouncing back with a 4-1 record after a loss in Game 1.
Other Interesting Notes
Cleveland have won their last 4 home games that Josh Tomlin has started as the favourite.
They are 17-5 in their last 22 games following a win.
The Indians have won their last 7 home games as the favourite.
Kansas City have lost their last 4 games as the underdog.
They are 16-37 in their last 53 games as the road underdog.
Prediction
The Cleveland batters have been particularly hot at home in recent games, both overall and against Kansas City, and Josh Tomlin could make it possible that they dont need to score too many runs to pick up the win.
Jeff Francis has been a little unfortunate not to have picked up a win this season, but he will have to find more control than he did against the Rangers as the Indians are seeing the ball like a football in this ball park.
The Indians are scoring too many runs here and I will back them to cover the run line.
The Pick :
Cleveland Indians 6-2 Kansas City Royals
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back the Cleveland Indians -1.5 @ 2.5 (2 UNITS)Follow me on Twitter- the direct link is below
