MLB Baseball
2012-06-20 - Kansas City Royals at Houston Astros
A Sports Betting Pick by Addicted
Baseball : North America : MLB
Wednesday, June 20th, 2012, 2:05PM US
(7:05PM GMT)
PREVIEW
The Kansas City Royals lost the opener against Houston but bounced back yesterday with a 2-0 win, restricting their hosts to just .167 batting in the shutout. That means Kansas have now won 6 of their last 8 matches, and can improve on a 19-16 road record as they creep towards a .500 record.
The Royals send southpaw Bruce Chen to the hill to improve on his 5-6 record and 5.05ERA. Chen is coming off a bad start, giving up 6 runs in under 2 innings, but it came at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals, who have not done well recently and were due a breakout and scored big due to homers at the right time.
Chen has been solid before that game, giving up no more than 3 runs in all but one of his previous 7 starts! Chen has a 2.95ERA against Houston in 10 meetings, 5 of which were starts.
The Astros counter with Jordan Lyles, who is 1-3 with a 5.50ERA. He's a strange one, but I think I know what to expect here. Lyles starts well, at least he did in his last 2 starts, before his form dips sharply late in his start.
His last 2 games saw him shutout his opponents for 4 innings, before collapsing in the 5th both times. Combined, he gave up 10 runs in his last 2 games despite starting well, and you can see why. Over his last 5 starts, he has pitched past the 5th inning just once, which is far from reliable.
BETTING VERDICT
I'm going to go with Kansas City, as they have been in good form, winning the bulk of their recent games while Lyles and the Astros look shaky. Away win for me.
The Pick :
Kansas City Royals
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
Take the Kansas City Royals -1.5 @ 2.43 (Pinnacle)
