The Kansas City Royals will go for their first five-game winning streak in two seasons Wednesday when they host the Baltimore Orioles. It will be the second of a three-game series.
The Orioles head in to this one as favorites, but only by the slightest of margins. They are -115 on the money line at betED online sportsbook. The total is set to 9.
The Kansas City Royals (16-13, 13-5 home) were 12-7 on Apr. 21 before they started a six-game road trip. The Royals went on to lose all six of those road games to fall below .500 for the first time since being 0-1. Since then, though, the Royals have been solid, sweeping Minnesota from Apr. 29-May1 and winning their first game against Baltimore 6-5 Tuesday.
The Royals needed 10 innings to beat Baltimore on Tuesday. Jeff Francoeur drove home the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning. He also hit the tying home run in the sixth inning.
The Baltimore Orioles (13-15, 6-7 away) got off to a 6-1 start before dropping eight in a row. Pitching has been an issue for the Orioles, as their 4.54 team ERA is the third-lowest in the AL.
Orioles left fielder Luke Scott hit a three-run shot Tuesday for his fourth homer in six games. He has one hit in eight at-bats against Kyle Davies, Kansas City’s scheduled starter for Wednesday’s game.
Davies (1-3, 7.98 ERA) is trying to bounce back from back-to-back road defeats. In his last outing, he lasted a season-low 3 1/3 innings and gave up eight runs and nine hits in Thursday’s 8-2 loss to Cleveland.
Jake Arrieta (3-1, 5.01 ERA) will take the mound for Baltimore. He picked up a win in his last outing, pitching 5 innings and giving up 3 runs in Friday’s 10-4 win against the Chicago White Sox.
