The Boston Red Sox and the Kansas City Royals meet in the finale of their three-game series in MLB action from Kauffman Stadium on Sunday. It’s the rubber match with each side owning one win apiece, who takes the series? Let’s dive in and find out.

Red Sox Bounce Back On Saturday

The Boston Red Sox started the series with a big loss to KC but bounced back on Saturday with a 9-5 win over the Royals on Saturday. The win propelled the Red Sox to 70-66 on the year, sitting 5.5 games back in the AL Wild Card race and 14.5 games back in the AL East race. Masataka Yoshida leads the Red Sox with 135 hits and a .294 batting average and Triston Casas has a team-high .368 OBP. Rafael Devers has a team-high 29 home runs and 90 RBIs while Justin Turner and Alex Verdugo each have 135 hits as well with Verdugo posting a team-high 34 doubles. Chris Sale will start here and is 5-3 with a 4.75 ERA and 96 strikeouts this season.

Boston Red Sox Team Facts

– The Red Sox have lost five of their last six games.

– The Red Sox have failed to cover the run line in five of their last six games.

– The ‘Inning 1 OVER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Red Sox’s last seven road games.

Royals Fall Flat On Saturday

The Kansas City Royals have been showing some heart as of late, but still took the loss in Saturday’s matchup to fall to 42-95 on the year, officially eliminated from playoff contention. Bobby Witt Jr. leads the Royals with 151 hits, 28 home runs and 84 RBIs along with a .276 batting average while Salvador Perez is second for the Royals in homers with 21 this season. MJ Melendez also has a team-high 28 doubles but has the dubious distinction of leading KC with 151 strikeouts this season. Taylor Clarke will start here for the Royals and is 2-4 with a 5.44 ERA and 53 strikeouts this season.

Kansas City Royals Team Facts

– The Royals have lost each of their last eight home games after playing the previous day.

– The Royals have covered the run line in each of their last five home games against the Red Sox following a loss.

– The Royals have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last four day games against opponents that held a winning record.

– The Royals have trailed after 7 innings in each of their last four day games against opponents that held a winning record.

– The Royals have trailed after 5 innings in each of their last five day games against opponents that held a winning record.

Matchup/League Facts

– The Kansas City Royals ranks T1st in the league for triples this season (36).

– The Kansas City Royals ranks 29th in the league for on-base percentage this season (.299).

– The Boston Red Sox ranks 1st in the league for doubles this season (296).

– The Boston Red Sox ranks 3rd in the league for hits this season (1236).

Chris’ Pick

I’m on the over here. I have seen Chris Sale struggle in some of his recent starts, and the Royals have actually been hitting lefties fairly well in some of their recent outings. On the other side, the Royals look to be implementing a bullpen game here or at least the majority of the game will be pitched by the ‘pen, and neither one of these teams have very good bullpens. I think this one sees some runs, give me the over.