Kansas City Royals (33-40) vs. Texas Rangers (27-48)
June 25, 2021 8:05 pm EDT
The Line: Texas Rangers -107 / Kansas City Royals -103; Over/Under: 8
(Get latest betting odds)
The Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers meet in MLB action from Globe Life Field on Friday night.
The Kansas City Royals will look to bounce back from an 8-1 loss at the hands of the New York Yankees in their last game. Sebastian Rivero led the way with the Royals lone RBI and a double while Hanser Alberto went 2 for 3 with a double as well. Nicky Lopez, Jarrod Dyson and Whit Merrifield each had a base hit to cap off KC’s offense as the Royals had just six hits as a team in the losing effort. Brad Keller took the loss on the mound, falling to 6-8 on the year after allowing four earned runs on nine hits while striking out three over five innings of work. Mike Minor will start here and is 6-4 with a 4.48 ERA and 92 strikeouts this season. in his career, Minor is 1-2 with a 6.19 ERA and 12 strikeouts against the Rangers.
The Texas Rangers will try to rebound from their 5-1 loss at the hands of Oakland on Thursday. Nick Solak had the lone RBI for the Rangers in the loss while Eli White, Willie Calhoun and Jose Trevino each had a pair of hits. Nate Lowe added a base hit as well as the Rangers had seven hits as a team with none of them going for extra bases in the loss. Kolby Allard took the loss, falling to 2-3 after allowing four earned runs on eight hits over six innings of work. Dane Dunning will get the start here and is 2-6 with a 4.71 ERA and 71 strikeouts this season. in his career, Dunning is 0-0 with a 2.79 ERA and 11 strikeouts against Kansas City.
Kansas City is 6-2 in their last 8 games as a road favorite and 17-50 in their last 67 games against the AL West while the over is 6-2 in their last 8 series-opening games. Texas is 18-38 in their last 56 games overall and 16-42 in their last 58 series-opening games while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 Friday games. The under is 36-9-6 in the last 51 meetings between these two teams.
I get the case that could be made either way here between two teams that are really struggling right now. However, Mike Minor’s at least finding himself in the win column a lot more often than Dane Dunning and while Dunning is a future top-tier pitcher, he’s not getting the support he needs now from the Rangers’ lineup and I think it costs them here as the Royals open the series with a win.
