The Kansas City Royals and the Washington Nationals meet Thursday in MLB action from Nationals Park. Here’s a Washington Nationals vs Kansas City Royals prediction. This will be the final installment in a three-game series. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Nationals vs Royals pick.
Kansas City Royals Betting Preview
In their last series, the Royals took on the San Francisco Giants. Kansas City lost all three of those games 2-1, 9-0, and 2-0. After a 1-0 win over the Nationals in their opener, on Thursday the Royals posted seven team hits in a 3-0 shutout win.
The starter for Thursday’s game will be Michael Wacha. This year Wacha is 13-8 with a 3.28 ERA in 28 starts. Wacha is 101-62 with a 3.89 ERA in 277 career games (256 starts).
Washington Nationals Betting Preview
Over on the Nationals’ side, they played the Chicago Cubs over the weekend. Washington won 5-1 Saturday but lost the other three games. In Wednesday’s matchup, the Nats could only muster two hits in the loss.
It’ll be Patrick Corbin in the start for the Nationals on Thursday. Corbin is 6-13 with a 5.58 ERA in 31 starts this year. Over 341 career games (323 starts) Corbin is 103-131 with a 4.51 ERA.
Total Runs Facts
- Each of the Royals’ last six games as road favorites has gone UNDER the total runs line.
- Each of the Nationals’ last six games as underdogs against American League opponents have gone UNDER the total runs line.
- The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Nationals’ last six games as home underdogs against AL Central opponents.
- The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Royals’ last four games against NL East opponents.
Washington Nationals Player Prop Facts
- Keibert Ruiz has recorded at least one Single in seven of his last eight appearances in day games against AL teams that held a winning record.
- Patrick Corbin has recorded five or more strikeouts in each of his last six appearances in day games.
- Joey Meneses has recorded two or more total bases in each of his last five home appearances against AL Central opponents that held a winning record.
- Patrick Corbin has recorded a win in each of his last three home appearances.
- Joey Meneses has hit a home run in three of his last five home appearances against AL Central opponents.
- Joey Meneses has recorded at least one Double in three of his last four appearances against AL Central opponents.
- Joey Meneses has scored a run in four of his last five home appearances against AL Central opponents.
- Joey Meneses has recorded at least one RBI in five of the Nationals’ last six-day games against AL Central opponents that held a winning record.
- Joey Meneses has recorded two hits in four of his last five home appearances against AL Central opponents that held a winning record.
Kansas City Royals Player Prop Facts
- Kyle Isbel has scored a run in each of the Royals’ last four games as road favorites against NL opponents.
- Michael Wacha has recorded seven or more strikeouts in each of his last three road appearances.
- Michael Wacha has recorded a win in four of his last five appearances against NL opponents.
- Vinnie Pasquantino has recorded at least one hit in each of his 15 previous road appearances against NL opponents that held a losing record.
- Paul DeJong has hit at least one home run in four of his last six appearances with his team as a road favorite against the Nationals.
- Vinnie Pasquantino has recorded at least one total base in each of his 15 previous road appearances against NL opponents that held a losing record.
- Vinnie Pasquantino has recorded a Double in three of his last four appearances against NL East opponents.
- Vinnie Pasquantino has recorded at least one RBI in eight of his last nine road appearances against opponents that held a losing record.
- Vinnie Pasquantino has recorded at least one Single in each of his last seven appearances in day games against teams that held a losing record.
Washington Nationals vs Kansas City Royals Prediction
I’ll stay with the Royals. Wacha is 2-1 over his last three starts and is pitching pretty well. Over that trio, Wacha has just three earned runs in 17.2 combined innings. As for Corbin, he’s got one good start (6.0 innings; one earned in a win) and two bad starts (13 earned over 10.1 combined innings) in his last trio.
On Wednesday the Royals got a nice pitching effort across the board. Wacha should start things off well on Thursday and I like the pen to follow.