Rays-Royals Lines Preview

The Tampa Bay Rays and the Kansas City Royals will both be gunning for a victory on Friday when they meet at Kauffman Stadium. The Rays will pin their hopes on the pitching of righthander James Shields in this game. Shields has a 6-6 record and a 3.42 ERA this season. Shields's opponent in this one will be Brian Bannister. The Royals righthander has a 3.57 ERA to go along with a 6-7 record this season. Oddsmakers currently have the Royals listed as 120-moneyline favorites versus the Rays, while the game's total has not yet been posted. The Rays lost to Oakland 7-3 as a -190 favorite on Sunday. The 10 runs scored went OVER the posted over/under total (8). Pat Burrell was 2-4 with two RBI for Tampa Bay and James Shields allowed three runs on six hits in 6 1-3 innings. The Royals lost to Boston 6-0 as a +250 underdog on Sunday. The six runs scored fell UNDER the posted over/under total (9.5). Bruce Chen took the loss for Kansas City after giving up three runs on six hits in three innings. Current streak: Tampa Bay has lost 2 straight games. Kansas City has lost 3 straight games. Team records: Tampa Bay: 48-41 SU Kansas City: 37-51 SU Tampa Bay most recently: When playing on Friday are 6-4 Before playing Kansas City are 8-2 After playing Oakland are 4-6 After a loss are 4-6 Kansas City most recently: When playing on Friday are 5-5 Before playing Tampa Bay are 1-9 After playing Boston are 0-10 After a loss are 3-7 A few trends to consider: The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Tampa Bay's last 7 games when playing Kansas City Tampa Bay is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Kansas City The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Tampa Bay's last 6 games on the road The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Tampa Bay's last 5 games when playing on the road against Kansas City The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Kansas City's last 7 games when playing Tampa Bay The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Kansas City's last 5 games when playing at home against Tampa Bay The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Kansas City's last 7 games at home The total has gone UNDER in 12 of Kansas City's last 17 games Next up: Kansas City home to Tampa Bay, Saturday, July 18