Kansas City Royals vs Texas Rangers Prediction 5-3-24 Picks

The Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals meet Friday in MLB action from Kauffman Stadium. Here’s a Kansas City Royals vs Texas Rangers prediction. This will be the first installment in a three-game series. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for the game.

Texas Rangers Betting Preview

The Rangers just finished up a set versus the Washington Nationals. Texas split the first two games 7-1 (win) and 1-0 (loss). In the Thursday rubber match, the Rangers bagged nine team hits in a 6-0 shutout win. Starter Nathan Eovaldi went 5.1 innings with no earned, two hits, two walks and eight strikeouts.

In the starting pitcher slot for Friday’s game, the Rangers will go with Michael Lorenzen. This year Lorenzen is 2-1 with a 4.24 ERA in three starts. He’s got 14 Ks in 17.0 innings. Lorenzen is 42-39 with a 4.12 ERA in 345 career games (72 starts).

Kansas City Royals Betting Preview

Over on the Royals’ side, they played the Toronto Blue Jays in their last set. Kansas City lost 6-5 in the opener of that series, then came back for wins 4-1 and 6-1 in the remaining pair. On Wednesday in the victory, Kansas City got a homer and four RBI from Michael Massey. Starter Seth Lugo finished with 7.0 innings, one earned, two hits and two walks.

It’ll be Brady Singer in the starting pitcher role for the Royals on Friday. This year over his six starts Singer is 2-1 with a 2.62 ERA and 34 Ks in 34.1 innings. Singer is 29-32 with a 4.37 ERA in 101 games (98 starts). The Royals will take on the Brewers following this series.

Rangers vs Royals Injury Notes

3B Matt Duffy (day-to-day) signed a minor-league contract with the Rangers on Thursday.

Kansas City Royals Team Facts

• The Royals have won each of their last six games against AL West opponents.
• The Royals have covered the run line in each of their last six games against AL West opponents.
• The ‘Inning 1 OVER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the last seven night games between the Rangers and Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
• The Royals have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last three games as home favorites against AL West opponents.
• The Royals have trailed after 5 innings in five of their last six games as home favorites against AL West opponents.

Texas Rangers Team Facts

• The Rangers have won each of their last eight night games at Kauffman Stadium following a win.
• The Rangers have covered the run line in each of their last nine night games against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium following a win.
• The ‘Inning 1 OVER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Rangers’ last seven night games at Kauffman Stadium.
• The Rangers have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last three games against American League opponents.
• The Rangers have lost the first inning in each of their last three games against American League opponents.

Kansas City Royals vs Texas Rangers Prediction

I’ll lean toward the Royals. Singer should be able to at least flirt with a quality start. He gave up five earned in 6.0 innings on April 22 versus the Blue Jays, but came back strong against the Tigers. In that one Singer managed 5.0 innings with just one earned on four hits and three walks. As for Lorenzen, he’s coming off five earned in 6.0 innings during a loss to the Reds but he should be able to bounce back and pitch well Friday.

As for the Rangers, on Thursday they got a pretty well-rounded offensive effort with just a couple of batters (Wyatt Langford and Corey Seager) coming up empty at the plate. Texas should be able to hang around in Friday’s game; it’ll be an interesting matchup.