Kansas City Royals vs Los Angeles Angels Free MLB Prediction, 6–18–2017
Kansas City Royals (32–34) at Los Angeles Angels (35–36)
MLB: Sunday, June 17th, 3:30 pm EST
Line: Royals -110 | Angels -110, 8.5
Last Meeting: 6/16/17 KC 0 LAA 9
Free MLB Pick by George Hampton of King Sports Picks
The Royals won Thursday and Friday’s games 7–2 and 3–1, only to follow with a 9–0 blowout by the Angels on Saturday. Today is the finale of a four game set in Anaheim as the Angels try to split the series with the Royals.
The Royals will give the start to lefty Jason Vargas on Sunday. Vargas is 9–3 this season with a 2.10 ERA with 65 Ks and 18 BBs. Vargas picked up the win in his last start, which came Tuesday on the road against the Giants. He threw seven innings, allowing a run on five hits with a walk and six strikeouts in an 8–1 Royals victory. Vargas is 3–0 with a 1.29 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP, three walks and 14 strikeouts over 21 innings in his last three starts.
Eric Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain lead this Royals offense which is starting to come around. Hosmer leads the team with a .310 average while Cain leads the team with 37 runs. Third Baseman Mike Moustakas leads the team with 18 home runs.
KC is 20–8 in Vargas’ last 28 starts
The Angels will usher out JC Ramirez (6–4) with a 4.19 ERA. Anaheim fought back to the .500 mark as they picked up the win in Saturday’s game, now they look to split the series with KC. With the absence of Mike Trout, a number of players must step up which include Albert Pujuols, Andrelton Simmons and Yunel Escobar. Trout is a perennial MVP candidate which makes it hard to replicate his output and the Angels are just 10–10 since his injury.
Ramirez recorded a no-decision in his last start, which came at home against the Yankees Tuesday. He threw 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in a 3–2 Angels victory.
Angels are 2–5 in their last 7 during game 4 of a series
Kansas City is showing glimpses of their 2015 World Series campaign after six straight games and seven of their last 10. Vargas has pitched very well this season and his 9 wins puts him at a four-way tie atop the MLB lead with most wins. I expect Vargas to pick up his 10th win today and lead his team to a series win over the Angels.
KC are 7–3 in the last 10 meetings in Los Angeles
Angels are 3–8 in their last 11 vs. a team with a losing record
Royals vs Angels FREE ML Pick: Royals -110
