Kansas City Royals vs. Cleveland Guardians May 30 Betting Preview

Enjoy your Memorial Day with an AL Central matchup between the Kansas City Royals (16-30) and the Cleveland Guardians (19-24). The Guardians will host this one at Progressive Field with first pitch scheduled for 6:10 pm ET.

The Royals split their last series with the Minnesota Twins over the weekend. On Sunday, they dropped the finale 7-3.

Offensively, the team got two hits apiece from Andrew Benintendi, MJ Melendez, and Hunter Dozier. Unfortunately, the team just couldn’t keep pace with the Twins’ bats.

For Cleveland, they dropped two of three to the Detroit Tigers including a 2-1 loss on Sunday. Owen Miller picked up two hits in the loss, but the top three in the lineup went a collective 0 for 11 from the dish.

Guardians vs. Royals Betting Odds

The Guardians are the favorites in this one playing at home. They are -162 to win while the Royals’ moneyline sits at +136. The runline features Kansas City +1.5 (-144), and the over/under for total runs is nine.

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Pitching Matchup

The Royals will send righty Jonathan Heasley to the mound on Monday. In three games this season, the 25-year-old is 0-2 with a 4.73 ERA, 1.88 WHIP, and has just seven strikeouts in 13.1 innings.

The Guardians will counter with righty Zach Plesac. This season, he is 1-4 with a 5.40 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, and has 28 strikeouts in 43.1 innings. In his last start, he picked up the loss after allowing seven earned runs on nine hits in just 4.2 innings of work.

Royals Mired In Big Slump

At 16-30, the Royals have the worst record in the American League and the second-worst record in all of baseball. Having lost eight of their last 10, Kansas City will look to get back on track when they travel to Cleveland. Thus far, they have been equally as bad on the road (8-15) as at home (8-15).

Including his two hits on Sunday, Hunter Dozier is now hitting .281/.335/.456 with five home runs, 17 runs batted in, and 21 runs scored. He has also had some success against Zach Plesac. Despite hitting just .174 in 23 at bats, he has two home runs and four runs batted in.

Young phenom Bobby Witt Jr. has also done well. He is tied for the lead in home runs (six) and leads the team in runs batted in (24), runs scored (23), and stolen bases (seven).

Guardians Also Trying To Get Back On Track

The Royals aren’t the only ones struggling as of late. Having lost seven of their last 10, the Guardians have now fallen 7.5 games back of first place in the division. They are also trying to move above .500 at home, where they are currently 8-8.

This will be the first time that any Guardian will square off with Jonathan Heasley, but still leading the offense overall is third baseman Jose Ramirez.

On the season, he is hitting .292/.388/.634 with a team-leading 12 home runs, 48 runs batted in, 27 runs scored, and six stolen bases. He has also struck out just 15 times while walking 25.

Josh Naylor has also hit well, especially against righties. In 98 total at bats, Naylor is hitting .296/.346/.531 with six home runs and 25 runs batted in.

Guardians Can’t Miss Out On Big Opportunity

The Guardians failed to capitalize on facing a struggling team when they lost two of three to the Detroit Tigers. They can’t afford to make the same mistake as they welcome the Royals for three games starting on Monday.

The real question for Cleveland will be which Zach Plesac will show up. If he is the one that gives up seven runs in just over four innings like his last time out, they will be in trouble. However, if he can contain the Royals, hopefully the offense can do enough against Jonathan Heasley to get the job done and get back into the win column Monday.