MLB Weekend Preview – Kansas City Royals in First Place?

The first-place Kansas City Royals (and no, that’s not a typo) look to hold onto their AL Central lead this weekend when they head out West to face the Los Angeles Angels on the MLB betting schedule.

The series gets started on Friday night with Gil Meche (2-2, 4.14) on the hill for Kansas City and Matt Palmer (2-0, 3.65) on tap for the Angels. Meche earned a win over Minnesota in his last start after holding the Twins to four runs on seven hits over six innings. He faced the Angels only once last season and picked up the win after going six innings and allowing two runs on six hits.

Palmer makes only his sixth career start on Friday night, and third of the season. In his last start he silenced the Yankees’ mighty bats and allowed only one run on three hits in 6 1-3 innings to earn the victory. This will be Palmer’s first career appearance against Kansas City.

On Saturday the Royals send their ace to the hill with the undefeated Zach Greinke (6-0, 0.40) getting the call. Greinke was dominant again in his last start against the White Sox in which he recorded his second complete-game shutout of the season and allowed six hits while striking out 10. In 45 innings this season Greinke has allowed only two earned runs while racking up an AL-high 54 strikeouts. Unfortunately, bettors haven’t made a ton of cash off of Greinke’s hot start, as the Royals have been favored on the MLB odds in four of his six wins.

Opposing Greinke for the Angels will be southpaw Joe Saunders (4-1, 3.29). Saunders earned a win over Oakland in his last start after allowing two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings. Saunders hasn’t faced Kansas City since 2006, and in that start he held the Royals to one run in seven innings while striking out eight.

Finishing off the series on Sunday will be Kyle Davies (2-1, 5.88) for the Royals and Shane Loux (2-2, 4.30) for the Angels. Davies lasted only four innings in his last start against the White Sox, and despite allowing six runs on eight hits he escaped with a no-decision. After spending the beginning of his career in the NL this will be Davies’ first career start against the Angels.

After a rocky start to the season Loux has looked good in his last two starts, both wins. Last time out against Oakland he limited the A’s to one run on five hits over seven innings. Loux faced the Royals while with Detroit back in 2003 and went five innings, allowing one run on three hits in a victory.