Mike Lundin‘s Mariners vs. Royals Free Pick
Rating: 5/10*
Start Time: August 3, 2017, 8:15 PM
The Kansas City Royals are well in the mix in the AL Central, sitting second in the division just a few games back of the Indians. I think they’ll need to give newly acquired Trevor Cahill plenty of run support here to have any chance of winning this game.
Cahill (4-3, 4.15 ERA) was tagged with five runs on eight hits with a pair of homers in four innings at Boston in his first start for the Royals since coming over from San Diego. The current Mariners are batting a combined .329 over 82 at bats against the right-hander.
Yovani Gallardo (5-7, 5.34 ERA) will take the ball for Seattle. He was very solid in July posting a 2.37 ERA through 19 innings of work, but note that over is 4-1-1 in Gallardo’s last six starts overall. KC’s Melky Cabrera is 5-for-11 in previous meetings with Gallardo.
The Royals are a very streaky team that played excellent baseball in the second half of July only to score just three runs through their last three games (all at Baltimore). I think their bats will come alive again tonight as they return home to Kauffman Stadium, and my free pick is on this matchup to go over the total.
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