MLB Baseball
2012-04-23 - Toronto Blue Jays at Kansas City Royals
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Monday 23 April 2012 - First Pitch 8:10pm ET
1:10am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The Toronto Blue Jays (9-6) will be aiming for their first sweep of a road series since May 2003 as they have already taken the first 3 games against the Kansas City Royals (3-12).
The Royals themselves will be looking to avoid losing for the tenth straight time at home this season a year after finishing just below 0.500 here. Their 0-9 start here is already the worst in franchise history, while their 10 game losing run stretching back to last season are the most ever at home.
Kansas City will send Bruce Chen to the mound and hope he can give the team an opportunity if he can continue the form that has led him to a 0-1 record but with a 2.00 ERA to open 2012. Chen has really limited his opponents in his starts so far, but is being backed by just 1.50 runs per game so far and he took the loss in his last start despite giving up just 2 runs in over 7 innings pitched against the Detroit Tigers.
Chen is 4-2 against the Blue Jays in his 8 career starts against them and he has a 3.42 ERA in those games.
Toronto will counter with Brandon Morrow on the mound who has a 0-1 record and a 4.50 ERA in 2012. Morrow has struggled a little with his command- last season he had a 10.19 strikeout rate per 9 innings pitched, but has only managed 9 overall in 20 innings so far this season.
A bigger worry for Morrow is that he has already given up 6 Home Runs, including 3 in his last start against the Tampa Bay Rays. The pitcher was 0-1 and a 5.06 ERA in his two starts against the Kansas City Royals last season.
Head to Head
Toronto have taken all 3 games played in the series and have outscored the Royals 18-11 in those wins.
The Blue Jays have now improved to 5-1 in their last 6 visits to Kauffman Stadium.
Prediction
My biggest worry so far is the lack of run support the Kansas City Royals have been offering their pitching staff, but I still believe they can salvage a little bit of pride and win their first home game of the 2012 season.
Bruce Chen is likely to provide good innings for the Royals and so it will be up to their bats to knock a few runs in and earn the victory. They will need Chen to continue his start from this season as they have only scored more than 3 runs in 1 of their last 6 games.
The Royals may get that opportunity as Brandon Morrow has struggled a little bit for his command from the mound, while he was tagged for 6 runs from 11 hits the last time he faced Kansas City.
It is risky considering the Royals have not been playing well in the early part of the season, but I think they will grab their first home win of the season tonight. I will pick them on the straight money line as the win is likely to come by the smallest of margins with the way their bats have been operating.
The Pick :
Kansas City Royals 4-3 Toronto Blue Jays
