Rays vs. Royals Prediction, Odds and Key Players for Thursday, July 4
The Tampa Bay Rays face the Kansas City Royals in a series-clinching third game tonight. The Royals won the matchup last night 4-2 while the Rays took the first game 5-1. For the season, the Royals lead the series 3-2.
The Royals are currently third in the wildcard standings, sitting one game back from the Minnesota Twins. The Rays are fourth in their division, four games out of the wildcard.
Both teams are 6-4 in their last ten games and taking the series could really help both teams in the playoff hunt as teams are approaching 100 games played.
Rays vs. Royals Odds, Run Line and Total
Run Line
- Rays -1.5 (+120)
- Royals +1.5 (-140)
Money Line
- Rays (-130)
- Royals (+110)
Total
8.5 Runs (Over -120/Under EVEN)
Rays vs. Royals Betting Trends
- The Tampa Bay Rays are 11-4 against the spread in their last 15 games.
- The Royals have won 24 of the 52 games they have been chosen as underdogs in this season.
- In their last 10 games, Tampa Bay and their opponents combined to go over the run total just twice.
- The under on runs has hit in eight of the Kansas City Royals last 10 games at home.
Rays vs. Royals: How To Watch
- Date: Thursday, July 4
- Game Time: 8:10 PM
- Venue: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO
- How To Watch (TV, Streaming): BSSUN, MLB.TV
- Rays Record: 43-43
- Royals Record: 48-40
Rays vs. Royals Key Players To Watch
Rays
Isaac Paredes: Paredes is doing it all for the Rays this season. He leads the team in home runs (14), batting average (.276) and RBI (46) this year. Paredes is one of the remaining pieces from the Austin Meadows trade and last year he hit 31 homers on a .250 batting average while slugging .488. The 25-year old third baseman is on a similar pace this year and will look to continue putting the Rays batting lineup on his back.
Royals
Salvador Perez: Perez was recently in the running to be a starter for the All-Star game but just missed out against Adley Rutchinson. More than likely he will make the team again this year, making him a nine-time all-star. This season, Perez is batting .278 and has brought in 54 RBI. Not to mention he also leads the Royals in homers with 14.
Rays vs. Royals Prediction and Pick
Wednesday's game was defined by Michael Wacha's performance as he pitched six innings only giving up one run (2 H, 8 K). Bobby Witt Jr. had a double and an RBI to help the Royals in the runs department. For the Rays, Ryan Pepiot got the start and was not too bad (just could not keep up with Wacha). He logged four innings while giving up two runs in the loss. (4 H, 0 K).
Tonight, the Rays are trotting out RHP Zach Eflin (4-5, 3.92 ERA) and the Royals are putting RHP Alec Marsh (6-5, 4.19 ERA) on the mound. In Eflin's last appearance, he tossed six scoreless innings while surrendering just four hits against the Washington Nationals. Marsh's most recent start came against the Cleveland Guardians, where he logged six innings and only gave up one earned run. Both pitchers have also logged some not-so-stellar outings within their last three starts and neither have faced either opponent this season so the pitching is a toss up.
The X-factor tonight will be which lineup will wake up. In the previous two matchups the under on runs (8.5) has hit and the hitting just has not been there. The Rays rank in the bottom half most major hitting categories. They have logged 78 homers (26th), combined for a team batting average of .235 (21st) and a slugging percentage of .369 (24th) and have scored 344 runs (4.0 per game) (24th). The Royals are a different story. They have the 12th-most runs in baseball (397), rank 17th in homers (87), slug .401 (12th) and bat .244 (13th).
With the recent batting trends, the most likely outcome is that the Royals wake up and take the third game in this series.
Pick: Royals ML (+110)
Note: Game odds are subject to change.