Royals vs. Rays MLB Betting Preview August 21st
Tuesday, August 21 at 7:10 PM ET
Tropicana Field
Dome
Odds: Royals are -269-moneyline favorites. The total is 7 Under -113.
Blake Snell looks to continue his stellar season and make his case for the American League Cy Young Award when the Rays continue their three-game series against the Royals.
Sparkman makes first career start
Glenn Sparkman (0-1, 4.95 ERA, 1.55 WHIP) had his first MLB start last time out. He gave up two earned runs on four hits and a walk with three strikeouts over four innings to get a no-decision in a 6-2 win against the Blue Jays last Thursday.
Sparkman is 0-1 with a 4.70 ERA in five relief appearances on the road. He has a 5.56 ERA in four games (one start) in August (seven earned runs in 11 1/3 innings).
The Royals have scored 459 runs (30th in the majors). They are putting up 3.67 runs per game (30th), hitting .240 (26th) with 108 home runs (27th).
Kansas City ranks 30th with a 5.28 ERA, 29th with a 1.49 WHIP and 29th with 899 strikeouts. Their bullpen ranks 29th with a 5.20 ERA.
Salvador Perez leads the Royals with 21 home runs and 60 RBI. Lucas Duda has 11 home runs and 43 RBI. Whit Merrifield has team-bests with a .303 batting average, a .371 OBP and 144 hits.
Snell wins second straight start
Blake Snell (14-5, 2.10 ERA, 1.02 WHIP) threw five scoreless innings against the Yankees last Thursday. He surrendered just two hits and a walk with six strikeouts in a 3-1 win. Snell is 2-0 with an 0.64 ERA in three starts since returning from the disabled list with a shoulder injury.
He has allowed just one earned run in 14 innings with a nice 5/1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (K/BB). The left-hander was on a pitch count last Thursday but with the way he’s pitching, his limits will vanish and he’ll get longer outings.
The Rays have scored 513 runs (23rd in the majors). They are putting up 4.10 runs per game (24th), hitting .251 (11th) with 112 home runs (26th). Tampa Bay ranks 7th with a 3.74 ERA, 4th with a 1.20 WHIP and 13th with 1078 strikeouts.
Their bullpen ranks 10th with a 3.74 ERA. C.J. Cron leads the Rays with 24 home runs and 59 RBI and Daniel Robertson has nine home runs and 34 RBI.
MLB Trends:
The Kansas City Royals are:
15-39 in their last 54 road games against a team with a winning home record
7-19 in their last 26 games against a left-handed starter
17-50 in their last 67 games overall
6-18 in their last 24 games against a starter with a WHIP less than 1.15
11-45 in their last 56 games against a team with a winning record
0-5 in the last five meetings
The Tampa Bay Rays are:
23-8 in their last 31 home games
6-1 in Snell’s last seven starts during game 2 of a series
5-1 in Snell’s last six starts on astroturf
4-1 in Snell’s last five home starts
8-2 in Snell’s last 10 Tuesday starts
6-2 in Snell’s last eight starts
Blake Snell has been very dominant at Tropicana Field. He has gone 6-1 with an 0.97 ERA in nine starts. Snell has allowed just seven runs (six earned) in 55 2/3 innings. Five of those runs came on solo homers.
Glenn Sparkman has made just one career start and he’ll likely be on a pitch count. The Rays can take advantage of a weak Royals bullpen that ranks 29th in the majors with a 5.20 ERA.
MLB Pick: Rays -269 at Jazz Sportsbook
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