Kansas City Royals vs Boston Red Sox
Free pick : Boston Red Sox -132
Clay Buchholz has been the Red Sox most steady starter all season. With 2 straight losses to open this series with Kansas City, I look for Buchholz and his teammates to come out very motivated tonight to put a halt to this brief losing streak. Certainly, it is human nature for a team to let up like the Red Sox have in this series after the tear they went on leading up to it. Boston won 8 of 9 games against the likes of the Yankees, Twins, Phillies and Rays heading into this series with Kansas City. But after the Royals won the first 2 games, I have no doubt K.C. has gotten their attention Saturday.
Buchholz is 6-3 with a 3.07 ERA this year and 3-0 with a 1.77 ERA in his last 3 outings. Zach Greinke is no longer the same dominant pitcher he was a year ago en route to winning the Cy Young award.
That was clear when he gave up 8 runs, 7 earned, and 9 hits in 3.1 innings in his last start, a 7-11 loss to the Texas Rangers. In fact, the Royals are just 2-8 in Greinke’s 10 starts this season. Greinke gave up 4 earned runs on 8 hits and 2 home runs in a 3-8 loss to the Red Sox back on April 10th earlier this season.
The Red Sox have gone 9-0 in their last 9 games with a total set in the 7.0 to 8.5 range. Boston is 6-0 in Buchholz’s last 6 starts against American League central foes, and 32-9 in their last 41 home games against the AL Central overall.
The Red Sox are 57-22 in their last 79 home games vs. a team with a losing record. Boston gets back to business and takes care of the Royals tonight.
Bet the Red Sox.