Royals vs Guardians Odds, Lines, and Spread – Keller vs Pilkington
By Blair Johnson in MLB Baseball
Published:
- The Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Guardians face off at Progressive Field on Wednesday, June 1st
- Mike Matheny’s club has the worst record in the American League, while Terry Francona’s group is trying to keep pace with the AL Central-leading Twins
- Read below for the Royals vs Guardians odds and betting preview
The Kansas City Royals (16-32) face the Cleveland Guardians (21-24) on Wednesday at Progressive Field. The series finale has a scheduled first pitch of 1:10pm ET. The Royals will send Brad Keller to the mound, while the Guardians counter with Konnor Pilkington.
The Cleveland is a -140 favorite in this one and have +1000 odds to win the AL Central after starting the season at +900.
The Royals started at +4500 odds to win the division and have seen those odds lengthen to +8000. St. Each team is projected to win 75.5 games in the MLB win totals.
Royals vs Guardians Odds
| Team | Runline | Moneyline | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Royals | +1.5 (-170) | +120 | Ov 8 (-105) |
| Cleveland Guardians | -1.5 (+150) | -140 | Un 8 (-115) |
Odds as of May 31st at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Kansas City vs Cleveland Probable Pitchers
Keller has alternated plus-.500 and sub-.500 records over the course of his five-year big league career. He’s due for a winning mark in 2022 — but with a 1-5 record through his first nine starts, the 26-year-old has some work to do. Despite posting five quality starts, KC is only 3-6 in the 6-foot-5 righty’s outings.
He’s dropped three straight decisions (and the Royals have lost in his last four turns). He’s also coming off back-to-back rough outings — allowing a combined 16 hits, 10 earned runs and six walks while striking out seven over 11 innings in home-and-away starts against the Twins.
Brad Keller's final line: 4 IP, 11 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 2 HR. 85 pitches, 55 strikes. A start reminiscent of last season for him. #Royals trail 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth.
— Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) May 28, 2022
Meantime, Cleveland is still stretching out the 24-year-old Pilkington — who was acquired from the White Sox in the Cesar Hernandez trade last year. The Guardians are only 1-4 in games he has appeared in, but 1-1 in his starts. He’s yet to get out of the fourth inning in either rotation turn so far. The lefty went 3.1 innings against the Tigers last Thursday, allowing seven hits, three earned runs and four walks while striking out four in an eventual 4-3 loss.
41% of balls in play against Konnor Pilkington have had an exit velo of 95+ mph, and 55% of balls in play vs his fastball 😬
— Ryan McCrystal (@TribeFanMcC) May 27, 2022
Prior to joining the rotation in place of the injured Aaron Civale, Pilkington tossed five shutout innings, surrendering only two hits and a walk while striking out five.
Keller vs Pilkington Stats
| 1-5 | Record | 0-0 |
| 3.95 | ERA | 3.75 |
| 3.70 | xERA | 5.16 |
| 14.2% | K% | 26.3% |
Not much has gone right for Kansas City this season. Whit Merrifield, the most dependable player on the roster and one of the most dependable in baseball — he’s led the majors in hits twice (2018 and 2019) in two of the last three full seasons — is nowhere near the top of that category in 2022 and owns a .216 batting average.
Meanwhile, much-ballyhooed Bobby Witt Jr isn’t doing much better. The AL Rookie of the Year favorite prior to the season is slashing .232/.275/.441. The bright side? His six homers and 24 RBIs are both tied for the team lead. He’s been better lately, though.
Bobby Witt Jr. in his last 15 games:
— .310 AVG
— .359 OBP
— .759 SLG
— 1.118 OPS
— 5 HR
— 14 RBI
— 14 XBH#Royals— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) May 29, 2022
There’s no concern for Jose Ramirez. Cleveland’s third baseman is the reigning AL Player of the Week (winning the award for a second time) this year and has driven in 51 runs in 2022. That’s the third most in franchise history before the end of May. Cleveland’s record is 63 by Manny Ramirez in 1999. He’s gone 3-for-7 in the first games in the series, including his 13th long ball of the season on Monday.
Jose Ramirez became the 26th player in AL/NL history to have 10 doubles, 10 home runs, and 50 RBIs in a team's first 44 games of the season.
He's the first to do it since Miguel Cabrera in 2013.@CleGuardians | #ForTheLand https://t.co/L6267pACjn pic.twitter.com/kwQ6LD77Y8
— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) May 31, 2022
The Guardians currently have +10000 odds to win the Fall Classic, while the Royals are at +250000 in the World Series odds.
KC vs CLE Last 10 Meetings
| Date | Home Team | Away Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5/31/22 | Guardians | Royals | CLE, 8-3 |
| 5/30/22 | Guardians | Royals | CLE, 7-3 |
| 4/11/22 | Royals | Guardians | CLE, 10-7 |
| 4/10/22 | Royals | Guardians | CLE, 17-3 |
| 4/9/22 | Royals | Guardians | KC, 1-0 |
| 4/7/22 | Royals | Guardians | KC, 3-1 |
| 9/30/21 | Royals | Guardians | CLE, 6-1 |
| 9/29/21 | Royals | Guardians | KC, 10-5 |
| 9/28/21 | Royals | Guardians | KC, 6-4 |
| 9/27/21 | Royals | Guardians | CLE, 8-3 |
Royals vs Guardians Prediction
Keller is seeking his first road victory since last August and is 0-3 with a 6.33 ERA in four starts away from Kauffman Stadium this season.
With Cleveland humming along, there’s not reason to go against the home team in this spot.
Pick: Guardians -1.5 (+150)
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Sports Writer
Blair Johnson is a veteran journalist and seasoned sports content creator. He has been writing and producing content as long as he can remember, with such familiar names as CNN, NFL Media and Yahoo. Blair currently lives and works in the greater Los Angeles area.
