Kansas City Royals vs. Cleveland Guardians May 31 Betting Preview

The Cleveland Guardians (20-24) will try to make it two wins in a row as they host the Kansas City Royals (16-31) on Tuesday. The game will be played at Progressive Field with first pitch scheduled for 6:10 p.m.

Zach Plesac was brilliant in this one as he allowed just one run on five hits over six innings. After the bullpen blew the lead, Nick Sandlin was credited with the win.

Offensively, Jose Ramirez had a big day going two for four with a home run and three runs batted in. Andres Gimenez also homered and drove in three runs.

The Royals bats produced nine hits, but they struggled to take advantage of opportunities as they left 14 on base. Third baseman Emmanuel Rivera hit his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot in the third inning.

Betting Odds

The Guardians are the favorites in Tuesday’s game playing at home. They are -154 to win while the Royals moneyline sits at +130. The runline features Kansas City +1.5 (-146), and the over/under for total runs is 9.5.

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Pitching Matchup

The Royals will send southpaw Daniel Lynch to the mound for Tuesday’s game. This season, he is 2-3 with a 3.92 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, and has 37 strikeouts in 39 innings of work.

The Guardians will counter with righty Cal Quantrill. He is 1-3 with a 3.42 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and has 28 strikeouts in 47.1 innings this season. In his last start, Quantrill took the loss against the Astros, giving up two earned runs over six innings.

Royals Hope To Carry Success Against Quantrill

At 16-31 and 12 games back of first in the AL Central, the Royals are really struggling to find any sort of consistency. Despite their lack of success, there are a couple players who have hit Cal Quantrill in their careers, and they will be looking for their bats to propel them to a victory.

In particular, Andrew Benintendi and Salvador Perez have hit Quantrill well. In 12 at bats, Benintendi is hitting .417 with a home run and two runs batted in. Similarly solid, Perez is hitting .364 in 11 at bats with a home run and four runs batted in.

Despite some success, it is still hard to trust Kansas City’s offense. They currently rank 25th in scoring averaging just 3.83 runs per game, although they have been better at 4.78 runs per game on the road.

Cleveland Trying To Inch Towards The Top Of The Division

With the Guardians win and the Twins loss on Monday, Cleveland have now moved to 6.5 games back of Minnesota for first in the division. They will look to build on that Tuesday as they again host the Royals in the second of a three-game series.

Jose Ramirez stayed red hot on Monday and now has pushed his MLB-leading runs batted in total to 51. He is also hitting .297/.391/.648 with 13 home runs, 28 runs scored, and six stolen bases.

Collectively, the Guardians rank 11th in scoring as they are averaging 4.49 runs per game. At Progressive Field, that number is 4.25 runs per game.

Guardians Out To Secure Series Win

Playing at home against a struggling Royals team, the Guardians will have their eyes set on trying to sweep Kansas City. However, before they can think about doing that, they will at least try to secure a series win by taking Tuesday’s game.

Despite going 0-1 in his last two starts, Cal Quantrill has only given up just three runs combined over his last 13 innings. If he can limit the walks (four in his last start), he should be able to subdue a Royals squad that is limited in their offensive firepower.

With a good outing from Quantrill, the bats should be able to do enough to pick up their 21st win of the season and their second in as many games of this series.