Rays-Royals Lines Preview

The Tampa Bay Rays and the Kansas City Royals will both be gunning for a victory on Friday when they meet at Kauffman Stadium.

The Rays will pin their hopes on the pitching of righthander James Shields in this game. Shields has a 6-6 record and a 3.42 ERA this season.

Shields’s opponent in this one will be Brian Bannister. The Royals righthander has a 3.57 ERA to go along with a 6-7 record this season.

Oddsmakers currently have the Royals listed as 120-moneyline favorites versus the Rays, while the game’s total has not yet been posted.

The Rays lost to Oakland 7-3 as a -190 favorite on Sunday. The 10 runs scored went OVER the posted over/under total (8).

Pat Burrell was 2-4 with two RBI for Tampa Bay and James Shields allowed three runs on six hits in 6 1-3 innings.

The Royals lost to Boston 6-0 as a +250 underdog on Sunday. The six runs scored fell UNDER the posted over/under total (9.5).

Bruce Chen took the loss for Kansas City after giving up three runs on six hits in three innings.

Current streak:
Tampa Bay has lost 2 straight games.
Kansas City has lost 3 straight games.

Team records:
Tampa Bay: 48-41 SU
Kansas City: 37-51 SU

Tampa Bay most recently:
When playing on Friday are 6-4
Before playing Kansas City are 8-2
After playing Oakland are 4-6
After a loss are 4-6

Kansas City most recently:
When playing on Friday are 5-5
Before playing Tampa Bay are 1-9
After playing Boston are 0-10
After a loss are 3-7

A few trends to consider:
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Tampa Bay’s last 7 games when playing Kansas City
Tampa Bay is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Kansas City
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Tampa Bay’s last 6 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Tampa Bay’s last 5 games when playing on the road against Kansas City
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Kansas City’s last 7 games when playing Tampa Bay
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Kansas City’s last 5 games when playing at home against Tampa Bay
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Kansas City’s last 7 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 12 of Kansas City’s last 17 games

Next up:
Kansas City home to Tampa Bay, Saturday, July 18