Anybody’s Call – Kansas City Royals vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Kansas City Royals (23-28) at Tampa Bay Rays (26-28)
Wednesday, June 3

BetOnline MLB game odds:  Rays -145, Royals +125, Total 9.5

Right-handers oppose each other in this matchup, as Brian Bannister of the Royals (4-2, 3.64 ERA) takes on big Jeff Niemann, who’s all fours (4-4, 4.44 ERA) for Tampa Bay.

Here are some of the MLB betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

• KC has lost 10 of its last 12 games
• KC has lost eight of its last nine road games
• KC has played seven of its last nine road games UNDER the total
• TB has lost six of its last nine games
• TB has played its last five games UNDER the total
• TB has won four of its last five home games
• TB has played five of its last seven home games UNDER the total

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD sports betting trends:

• TB has won 17 of the last 25 meetings
• The last five meetings have gone UNDER the total
• TB has won six of the last seven meetings as the home team

Kansas City is on a five-game losing streak, and from being a leader in the AL Central this team has gone downhill fast. There’s no mystery; in the last 11 games they have scored just 27 runs. Last night’s game provided another frustrating experience for them, as they managed just two runs off Andy Sonnanstine and the Tampa Bay bullpen, and fell victim to four RBI’s by Matt Joyce in the 6-2 loss. The Royals are in fourth place in the AL Central and they have slipped to 5.5 games behind Detroit. Tampa Bay is trying to edge toward the .500 mark, but there are three teams ahead of them in the AL East, and the defending league champs are six games behind the Yankees.

Brian Bannister, while not necessarily symbolic of this slide, has tapered off a bit from a hot start. He was called up from Triple-A early in the season and had a 1.48 ERA in his first four starts, as seemingly he was trying to keep pace with teammate Zach Greinke, who has burned up the league. Bannister has been roughed up a bit in two of his last three starts – on May 19 he gave up nine hits and five runs in six innings against Cleveland and in his last start he again surrendered nine hits and this time six runs against the White Sox. The Royals have won six of his eight outings, but they’ve scored three runs or less in four of his last five.

Jeff Niemann had some bad luck in his last start, as he went only three innings in a game that was delayed, as it turned out, for two hours and 40 minutes, and it was determined that he would not go back in. The Indians won it 2-1, and Niemann got tagged with the defeat. Everybody seems pretty pleased with his progress, and success is indeed expected from the 26-year-old 6-foot-9 Texan.

The aforementioned Joyce has stepped right in since being called up from Triple-A Durham; in five games he already has three homers and six RBI’s. Tampa Bay has not been as dominant at home at it was last year (14-11), but the Rays have more people capable of supplying offensive firepower, especially if Evan Longoria, who’s got a hamstring injury, can play. We simply can’t move with Kansas City while they’re so anemic, so it’s a small recommendation on the Rays, the -145 favorite in the BetOnline American League baseball betting odds.

JAY’S PLAY:  TAMPA BAY (-145) *
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)