Kansas City Royals (33-43) vs. Boston Red Sox (47-31)
June 29, 2021 7:10 pm EDT
The Line: Boston Red Sox -175 / Kansas City Royals +161; Over/Under: 10.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Kansas City Royals and the Boston Red Sox meet in MLB action from Fenway Park on Tuesday night.
The Kansas City Royals will look to rebound from a 6-5 loss at the hands of the Red Sox on Monday. All of KC’s scoring came via the longball, as Carlos Santana had a three-run home run while Michael A. Taylor and Whit Merrifield each had a solo home run with Merrifield going 3 for 5 at the dish. Jorge Soler and Emmanuel Rivera each went 2 for 4 at the dish while Ryan O’Hearn, Hunter Dozier and Nicky Lopez each had base hits as well in the losing effort. Danny Duffy allowed four runs on five hits with a pair of strikeouts over 3.1 innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Josh Staumont took the loss in relief to fall to 0-2 on the year. Brad Keller will start here and is 6-8 with a 6.39 ERA and 67 strikeouts this season. In his career, Keller is 0-1 with a 6.94 ERA and 7 strikeouts against Boston.
The Boston Red Sox will look to look to build on their win from Monday. Hunter Renfroe had a pair of home runs and three RBIs while Bobby Dalbec and Enrique Hernandez each added a solo blast as well. Michael Chavis chipped in an RBI as well to make up the scoring for the Red Sox in the winning effort. Xander Bogaerts added a double while Marwin Gonzalez chipped in a base hit as well to cap off the offense for Boston in the win. Garrett Richards gave up five runs on 11 hits while striking out three over 5.2 innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Hirokazu Sawamura got the win to improve to 4-0 on the year. Matt Barnes closed the 9th for his 17th save of the season. Nick Pivetta will start here and is 6-3 with a 4.00 ERA and 94 strikeouts this season. This will be Pivetta’s second career start against Kansas City.
Kansas City is 4-17 in their last 21 games overall and 0-5 in their last 5 games as an underdog while the over is 2-0-2 in their last 4 games against the AL East. Boston is 4-0 in their last 4 home games and 8-2 in their last 10 games as a home favorite while the under is 5-0-1 in their last 6 games as a favorite.
I’m not running to the window to bet this matchup based on the starting pitching, but side by side, I have to side with Boston. Nick Pivetta has stumbled lately, but he’s still had a more consistent time keeping runs off of the board and has a stronger lineup behind him. Keller’s got a lot better record than expected for a pitcher with an ERA over six, but I think he’s starting to regress to his true level of play and against Boston I don’t think it’ll be enough. Give me the Red Sox here.
