Kansas City Royals vs. Cleveland Indians MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 7/8/2021

The Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Indians meet in an AL Central division matchup in MLB action from Progressive Field on Thursday night.

The Kansas City Royals will look to bounce back from a 5-2 loss at the hands of the Reds on Wednesday. Michael A. Taylor led the charge, going 2 for 4 with an RBI while Salvador Perez, Carlos Santana, Ryan O’Hearn, Hanser Alberto, Hunter Dozier and Nicky Lopez all had base hits to finish off the offense for KC as none of the Royals’ eight hits went for extra bases in the losing effort. Brady Singer allowed one run on five hits while striking out six over six innings of work. Scott Barlow took the loss in relief, falling to 2-3 on the year as a result. Danny Duffy will start here and is 4-3 with a 2.60 ERA and 57 strikeouts this season. In his career, Duffy is 5-13 with a 4.81 ERA and 91 strikeouts against Cleveland.

The Cleveland Indians will look to bounce back after being swept in a doubleheader by the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, dropping game one by a final count of 8-1 and game two by a final score of 4-0. Game one saw Franmil Reyes belt a solo home run while Roberto Perez had a double. Cesar Hernandez and Amed Rosario each had a base hit as the Tribe had just four hits as a team in the losing effort. J.C. Mejia took the loss after allowing six runs on four hits over 2.2 innings to fall to 1-4 on the year. Game two saw the Rays throw a combined no-hitter as the Indians recorded just two walks and 8 strikeouts. Sam Hentges took the loss, falling to 1-4 after allowing four runs on five hits over 4.1 innings of work. Zach Plesac will start here and is 4-3 with a 4.14 ERA and 38 strikeouts this season. In his career, Plesac is 5-0 with a 1.83 ERA and 26 strikeouts against Kansas City.

Kansas City is 7-23 in their last 30 games overall and 2-5 in their last 7 Thursday games while the over is 7-1-3 in their last 11 road games against a team with a right-handed starter Cleveland is 69-32 in their last 101 Thursday games and 1-4 in their last 5 games as a favorite while the over is 7-0 in their last 7 home games against a left-handed starter.

I get the case that could be made for both sides here with Plesac making his long-awaited return while Duffy hasn’t looked all that solid since returning from the IL. With that said, in three combined games yesterday, these two sides combined for a total of three runs. I’m not about to back the over with two struggling offenses even with this pitching matchup. Give me the under.