Underdog Alert – Kansas City at Tampa Bay

Kansas City Royals vs. Tampa Bay Rays 7:08 ET

A pair of small market teams still sticking around with the big boys does battle for the first time this season at Tropicana Field, and BetOnline Sportsbook will have all of the baseball betting action you can sink your teeth into on Tuesday night! The Kansas City Royals (23-27, -$380) will be in action on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays (25-28, -$772). Both teams have been slumping heading into this series, as the Royals have lost eight out of ten while the Rays have dropped five out of seven. Both teams are still in contention, but both have a lot of work left to do in order to make noise down the stretch.

The oddsmakers have made the Rays -155 favorites in this MLB betting affair, while the ‘total’ has been set at 9.5 over -115.

RHP Kyle Davies will take the bump for the Royals on Tuesday night. Davies had a nice run last season in KC, going 9-7 with a respectable 4.06 ERA. This year, he’s gotten off to a far rougher start, managing just a 2-4 record in ten starts with a 5.09 ERA. A lot of those problems have come in his L/3 starts, in which he has conceded 13 runs (ten earned) in 18.2 innings pitched. He’s suffered the loss in all three games, and hasn’t led Kansas City to a win since May 5th. If there’s good news for Royals bettors, it’s that their righty has pitched quite well in four road starts this year, posting a 2.16 ERA and 0.96 WHIP. He is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his career against the Rays. Davies won’t be picking up any wins in the near future unless his offense starts to pick up some of the slack. The Royals have only averaged 2.44 runs per game in their L/9.

The remedy for that might be in the form of RHP Andy Sonnanstine. Sonny was a 13-game winner a year ago for manager Joe Maddon and the Rays, but he is clearly a lot closer to the bullpen or the minors than he is to winning 13 games again. He is just 3-5 in ten starts this season, but has been rocked for a 7.66 ERA. Those matters were made worse in his last outing, as he blew a 5-0 lead by conceding eight runs in 3.0 innings of work in Tampa Bay’s 12-7 loss in Cleveland on May 27th. That start marked the third time in his L/4 starts that Sonnanstine has allowed at least five earned runs. The team has scored at least four runs for him in each of his L/6 starts, but he is only 3-2 to show for it. Tampa’s fifth starter has had a decent career against KC, going 1-1 with a 3.48 ERA in three career starts. With LHP David Price pitching well and LHP Scott Kazmir nearing a return from the disabled list, one has to wonder whether another lousy start from Sonnanstine will be his death sentence.

It’s impossible to bet on Sonnanstine as a favorite in any situation at this point. He’s liable to give up a touchdown’s worth of runs in a single inning, and he’s not going to give the Rays more than six innings of work more often than not. Kansas City clearly has the better bullpen, as it has almost a half run in ERA on the Rays’ pen. KC’s offense may be struggling, but that slump should end tonight.

Rose’s Recommendation: 2* Kansas City Royals +135 (Davies)

(Rating Scale: 1* – 5*)