First Five Play In Royals, Rangers

Royals vs. Rangers, 8:05 ET

One of the losses that I had yesterday saw exactly one run scored through five innings. Then the wheels fell off for both starters in the sixth inning and six runs were scored. The final "half" of the game saw a total of 11 runs. I had the under. If I played the under through five, I walk away with a winning ticket. Unfortunately, I took the full game. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. This was one of those games.

The Royals are not a great team and won't be a very good team all year with just a 3-9 record for the year. They do have some opportunities to be able to succeed in certain situations. Most of it will come from their pitching staff, because their offense isn't going to lead them to many victories. In fact, the batting average for the Royals sits at a pathetic .190 for the season right now. Their pitching staff hasn't been great, but they are at least respectable enough with a 4.56 collective ERA. One pitcher that looks solid enough right now is Brad Keller. He's only allowed three earned runs on the season and is responsible for one of the few wins the Royals have. In his last start he was able to go 5.2 innings and allowed just three hits and one earned run. He is issuing a lot of walks though as he's already allowed seven and eight hits in those 10.1 innings he's tossed this season. Rangers hitters are batting .326 against him in the past.

The Rangers are enjoying the start to their season with a 7-4 overall record. Most of this early season success has come from their home games. They are 6-2 right now and looking to continue improving after the investments they made during the offseason. They were able to grab a walk-off win last night against the Royals and now are using one of those investments, Nathan Eovaldi, to try and close out the sweep in this game. He's been fine for the Rangers so far. He has allowed five earned runs over 10.2 innings this season. My concern is that he's allowing too many hits - more baserunners mean more runs, but with the weak contact that the Royals are making so far, it might not matter. I've never really thought that Eovaldi was that great of a pitcher, but I do recognize he is decent enough. Royals hitters have been very good against him though. Over 61 at-bats they have gotten 25 hits and those are spread out over a lot of hitters.

I think this is a game the Royals actually have a chance to win. I'm going to play through five innings at +135 because I'm willing to sacrifice the five cents for a chance at a push as well. Keller isn't a terrible pitcher and the success the hitters have had off Eovaldi gives me some encouragement. I'll take a shot here.

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