The Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers meet in MLB action from Globe Life Field on Friday night.
The Kansas City Royals will look to bounce back from an 8-1 loss at the hands of the New York Yankees in their last game. Sebastian Rivero led the way with the Royals lone RBI and a double while Hanser Alberto went 2 for 3 with a double as well. Nicky Lopez, Jarrod Dyson and Whit Merrifield each had a base hit to cap off KC’s offense as the Royals had just six hits as a team in the losing effort. Brad Keller took the loss on the mound, falling to 6-8 on the year after allowing four earned runs on nine hits while striking out three over five innings of work. Mike Minor will start here and is 6-4 with a 4.48 ERA and 92 strikeouts this season. in his career, Minor is 1-2 with a 6.19 ERA and 12 strikeouts against the Rangers.
The Texas Rangers will try to rebound from their 5-1 loss at the hands of Oakland on Thursday. Nick Solak had the lone RBI for the Rangers in the loss while Eli White, Willie Calhoun and Jose Trevino each had a pair of hits. Nate Lowe added a base hit as well as the Rangers had seven hits as a team with none of them going for extra bases in the loss. Kolby Allard took the loss, falling to 2-3 after allowing four earned runs on eight hits over six innings of work. Dane Dunning will get the start here and is 2-6 with a 4.71 ERA and 71 strikeouts this season. in his career, Dunning is 0-0 with a 2.79 ERA and 11 strikeouts against Kansas City.
Kansas City is 6-2 in their last 8 games as a road favorite and 17-50 in their last 67 games against the AL West while the over is 6-2 in their last 8 series-opening games. Texas is 18-38 in their last 56 games overall and 16-42 in their last 58 series-opening games while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 Friday games. The under is 36-9-6 in the last 51 meetings between these two teams.
I get the case that could be made either way here between two teams that are really struggling right now. However, Mike Minor’s at least finding himself in the win column a lot more often than Dane Dunning and while Dunning is a future top-tier pitcher, he’s not getting the support he needs now from the Rangers’ lineup and I think it costs them here as the Royals open the series with a win.