Kansas City Royals (33-44) vs. Boston Red Sox (48-31)
June 30, 2021 7:10 pm EDT
The Line: Boston Red Sox -160 / Kansas City Royals +148; Over/Under: 10.5
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The Kansas City Royals and the Boston Red Sox meet Wednesday in MLB action from Fenway Park. This will be the third installment in a four-game series between these teams this week. The Red Sox eked out a one-run win on Monday in the opener, then in the Tuesday game Boston kept it going with another one-run victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
Kansas City had a 5-1 lead at one point during the Monday game, but couldn’t score beyond that in an eventual 6-5 defeat. In the Tuesday game two, the Royals had a 6-5 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth but ended up falling in a 7-6 result. Brad Keller posted 5.0 innings with 10 hits, five walks and six earned.
For the Wednesday matchup, the Royals will send out Mike Minor. Over his 91.1 innings this year, Minor has 88 hits, 53 runs (52 earned), 14 homers allowed, 27 walks, 94 Ks and a 5.12 ERA overall.
Over on the Boston side, they overcame a spotty start from Garrett Richards (5.2 innings; 11 hits; five earned) to get the win on Monday. In the Tuesday game, Boston posted 12 hits (and gave up 13) during the win. Nick Pivetta put up 4.1 innings with six earned on nine hits and two walks.
For Wednesday’s game three start, the Sox will go with Martin Perez. Across 70.1 innings this year, Perez has 75 hits, 37 runs (32 earned), eight homers allowed, 26 walks, 60 Ks and a 4.09 ERA.
The Royals are 37-94 in their last 131 in game three of a series and 7-21 in their last 28 road games. KC is 4-18 in their last 22 on grass and 27-57 in their last 84 versus the AL East.
Meanwhile, the Sox are 54-26 in their last 80 Wednesday games and 12-3 in their last 15 with the total set at 7.0-8.5. The over is 5-1 in the Sox’ last six Wednesday games and 20-6-2 in their last 28 in game three of a series.
PICK: I’m going with the Sox. Perez had a couple of sketchy starts at the beginning of the month (3.1 innings; 11 earned on 12 hits) but has cleaned things up in his last pair. He’s got just one earned on nine hits in his last 8.2 innings over two starts. As for Minor, he gave up nine earned on 11 hits in 5.0 innings in his last appearance versus the Rangers, but had a pretty decent three-game run prior to that. All in all I think this is Boston’s game to lose.
