The Kansas City Royals and the Arizona Diamondbacks meet Wednesday in MLB action from Chase Field. This will be the finale in a three-game series. The Diamondbacks eked out a win in the Monday opener, then in game two the Royals evened it up with a close victory of their own. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
Kansas City Royals
Kansas City out-hit the Diamondbacks 10-7 in the Monday opener but ended up losing a tough one 5-4. In game two the Royals posted 14 team hits on the way to a tense 5-4 outcome, this time a win. Brady Singer put up 6.0 innings in the start with one earned on five hits with five Ks.
As starter for the Wednesday game, Kansas City will send out Ryan Yarbrough. In seven games (zero starts) so far this year Yarbrough is 0-2 with a 7.62 ERA and five strikeouts in 13.0 innings. He’s 40-33 with a 4.40 career ERA in 134 games (59 starts).
Arizona Diamondbacks
Over on the Diamondbacks’ side, they posted the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth on Monday and held on for the win. In the Tuesday matchup Arizona scored three runs in the final three innings and had 10 team hits but ultimately fell short. Starting pitcher Ryne Nelson finished with 5.0 innings, four earned and 11 hits.
For the starter job on Wednesday it’ll be Arizona’s Zac Gallen. In his five starts so far Gallen is 3-1 with a 2.59 ERA and 39 Ks in 31.1 innings of work. Over his career in 86 starts, Gallen is 25-23 with a 3.06 ERA.
The Royals are 15-38 in their last 53 road games and 17-38 in their last 55 overall. Kansas City is 15-39 in their last 54 versus a right-handed starter.
Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks are 5-1 in their last six Wednesday games and the over is 9-4 in their last 13 Wednesday games. The over is 35-14-2 in Arizona’s last 51 interleague games.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll try Arizona here. Realistically the line’s too thick to mess with, though. Gallen started out the year on a sketchy run but he’s evened things out over the last three starts. In that time Gallen is 3-0 with zero earned on seven hits and a walk across 20.2 combined innings. On Tuesday Arizona was down 4-1 by the end of the fifth inning and they were nearly able to fight back. The bullpen ended up surrendering three hits, one earned and a walk over 4.0 innings, which really wasn’t too bad. Another good performance from the pen and a quality start would go a long way in the rubber match.