MLB Betting – Sputtering Rangers, Royals Look for Spark

Kansas City Royals (+145) at Texas Rangers (-167, 9 o/u)

For the second time in less than a week, the Kansas City Royals (49-51, 17-32 Away) and the Texas Rangers (58-44, 30-17 Home) will open up a series, but this time, a four-game set. The series gets underway tonight (8:05 PM Eastern), when Yordano Ventura faces Cole Hamels at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

The previous series (July 22-24) saw Texas win two of three on the road, serving as one of the lone bright spots for the Rangers in the month of July. After a red-hot June that saw them win 20 of 28 games, including series wins over the Astros and Red Sox, and sweeps of the Cardinals and Mariners, the Rangers have cooled off quick. Outside of their three-game set against Kansas City, Texas has lost every series in July, including losing five of seven to the Twins, getting swept by the Angels, and most recently dropping two of three to the Athletics.

In spite of the Rangers’ poor play, they still lead the AL West by 2.5 games. Tonight, they’ll hope last year’s deadline acquisition, Cole Hamels, can get them back on the right track. The left-hander is 11-2 in his 20 starts this season with a 2.87 ERA. His last start came against this same Royals team, and it saw him go 5.1 innings, allowing one run on five hits, earning the win.

The month of July has not been too kind to Kansas City either, going 7-15 and dropping them two games below .500. The team just snapped a four-game losing streak by beating the Los Angeles Angels (7-5) last night, but they remain 8.5 games behind the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians. They also trail the final Wild Card spot by 6.5 games and are in desperate need of a spark.

Yordano Ventura is definitely capable of providing that spark, but it may come in the form of a fist to his face, as opposed to the quality start the Royals need. The right-hander has lost four of his last five starts, and is 6-8 with a 4.99 ERA on the year.

His last start also came against the same team he faces tonight, and saw him go 5.0 innings, allowing three runs on just three hits, but walking four. He’ll need to find his command again if the Royals hope to get themselves back into the hunt.

Both teams have stats to support them in tonight’s game. The Royals have the fifth-best batting average in the majors against lefties, but Hamels hasn’t taken a loss since May 27, and has only given up seven earned runs in his four starts over the month of July. Add in the fact that Kansas City is 1-6 SU in its last seven games on the road, and 8-15 SU in their last 23 games when playing in Texas, and the Rangers look like the play with their de facto ace on the mound.

Pick: Texas (-167).

(Photo Credit: Arturo Pardavila III (Flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/])