Free Pick @ www.winnibet.com has Royals -105 to win
See analysis below:
Sept. 18, 2013 – The Cleveland Indians took a big step forward in their quest for a wildcard berth last night as they came from behind to take a 5-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals, who are also in the hunt for an AL wildcard spot.
Tonight, these two teams will play the third game of this four game series.
With last night’s win, The Indians moved to within a half game of both Texas and Tampa Bay. The two teams that currently occupy the two wildcard spots. With a win tonight, they could occupy one of those spots themselves.
Kansas City fell 3 1/2 games out of the picture with the loss and now have virtually no room for error with only 11 games remaining.
Tonight, the Royals will send LH Bruce Chen (7-3, 3.11 ERA) to the mound. Chen was moved into the rotation from the bullpen on July 12th and has been solid going 4-3, 3.44 in his current role. Tonight will be his biggest start of the season.
Cleveland will send out rookie RH Danny Salazar (1-2, 2.66). This will only be his ninth start in the majors. Salazar has been steady, but since the Indians are limiting his pitch count he doesn’t pitch a lot of innings, so the bullpen figures to be a big factor.
With so much on the line for both teams this game is like a playoff game. With the expanded September rosters, there is added flexibility for the managers, especially with the bullpen. Cleveland used 7 pitchers last night, KC 6. I believe Cleveland will have to dig at least as deep tonight with Salazar starting.
I think tonight’s game will be determined by pitching and here I give the Royals the edge. Chen may not be a stopper, but he is a veteran who should give his team 6 or 7 innings before turning it over to the pen. Cleveland’s Salazar does not figure to go that long, even if he is effective, taxing the Tribe’s relievers. Plus, the urgency factor favors KC.
The Pick: Kansas City Royals -105 to win
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