The Washington Nationals and the Kansas City Royals meet Saturday in MLB action from Kauffman Stadium. This will be the second installment in a three-game series over the weekend. On Friday in the opener, the Nationals posted a high-scoring victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
Washington Nationals
The Nationals took on the Padres this week, losing two of the three games in that set. On Friday versus Kansas City, Washington had eight runs in the sixth inning alone during a 12-10 win. Patrick Corbin went 6.1 innings in the start with six earned on seven hits and four walks.
For the starter job on Saturday the Nationals will go with Josiah Gray. Over his 10 starts so far Gray is 4-5 with a 2.65 ERA and 47 Ks in 57.2 innings. Gray is 13-17 with a 4.65 career ERA in 52 games (51 starts).
Kansas City Royals
Over on the Kansas City side, they also lost two of three in their last series to the Tigers. On Friday the Royals scored eight runs in the final four innings but couldn’t come back. Starter Jordan Lyles finished with 5.0 innings, five earned, six hits and three walks.
Brady Singer will take the mound for the Royals on Saturday. Across 10 starts this year Singer is 3-4 with a 7.48 ERA and 43 Ks in 49.1 innings. Singer is 22-24 with a 4.44 ERA in 76 career games (73 starts).
The Nationals are 39-19 in the last 58 versus the AL Central and 18-42 in their last 60 Saturday games. The under is 5-0 in Washington’s last five in game two of a series.
Meanwhile, the Royals are 18-38 in their last 56 in game two of a series and 24-54 in their last 78 versus a right-handed starter. KC is 15-38 in their last 53 overall.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll take a stab on the Nationals here. Gray is pitching pretty well over his last three games—despite a bit of a high walk rate. In that trio Gray has four earned in 19.0 combined innings on 15 hits and 13 walks. As for Singer he struggled against the Tigers in his last outing (3.2 innings; five earned) but had been pitching well before that. On Friday Washington got a spotty pitching performance overall but the offense was able to carry them through. I like the Nationals to bag another victory in game two.
