At Kauffman Stadium on Friday, the Kansas City Royals (64-52) open a two-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals (59-57), at 8:10 PM ET.
The Royals are favored (-119 on the moneyline to win) when they take the field at home against the Cardinals (+100). The starting pitchers are Michael Lorenzen (5-6) for the Kansas City Royals, and Miles Mikolas (8-9) for the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Royals were vicotrious 8-4 over the Red Sox Friday in their last Game. Cole Ragans was named the winning pitcher after throwing 6 1/3 innings, giving up one earned run on six hits while striking out seven, while Bobby Witt Jr. finished 3-for-4 with a double, two home runs and four RBI to lead them offensively.
The Cardinals fell to the Rays 6-4 yesterday. Nolan Arenado went 3-for-3 with an RBI in the defeat, while JoJo Romero took the loss on the mound, pitching 1 1/3 innings, giving up one earned run on one hit.
Before watching this Royals vs. Cardinals matchup, here’s what you need to know about Friday’s action on the diamond, including viewing options.
Kansas City Royals vs. St. Louis Cardinals odds and betting lines
MLB odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Friday at 3:16 PM ET. For a full list of Sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub.
- Favorite: Royals (-119, bet $119 to win $100)
- Underdog: Cardinals (+100, bet $100 to win $100)
- Over/under: 9
Royals vs. Cardinals: Live streaming info & game time
- Game Day: Friday, August 9, 2024
- Game Time: 8:10 PM ET
- Stadium: Kauffman Stadium
- TV Channel: Bally Sports
- Live Stream: Fubo (Watch for free)
Royals stats and trends
Royals betting records
- The Royals have been favorites in 54 games this season and won 35 (64.8%) of those contests.
- Kansas City has entered 44 games this season favored by -119 or more and is 30-14 in those contests.
- Sportsbooks have implied with the moneyline set for this matchup that the Royals have a 54.3% chance to win.
- So far this season, Kansas City and its opponents have hit the over in 51 of 116 games with a total.
- The Royals are 64-52-0 against the spread in their 116 chances this season.
Michael Lorenzen (Royals probable starter)
- Lorenzen gets the start for the Royals, his 20th of the season. He is 5-6 with a 3.69 ERA and 80 strikeouts through 107 1/3 innings pitched.
- The right-hander’s last appearance came on Saturday against the Detroit Tigers, when he went 5 2/3 innings, surrendering one earned run while allowing five hits.
- In 20 games this season, the 32-year-old has a 3.69 ERA and 6.7 strikeouts per nine innings, while allowing a batting average of .225 to opposing batters.
- Lorenzen has recorded eight quality starts this year.
- Lorenzen has put up 17 starts this year in which he pitched five or more innings.
- He has held his opponents without an earned run in four of his 20 appearances this season.
- He meets a Cardinals offense that ranks 22nd in the league with 481 runs while batting .246 as a unit. It has a collective .386 slugging percentage (19th in MLB play) and has hit a total of 118 home runs (21st in MLB).
Royals batting stats
- The Royals have hit 126 homers this season, which ranks 17th in the league.
- Hitters for Kansas City rank 10th in the majors with a combined .414 team slugging percentage.
- The Royals’ .253 batting average is among the best in baseball, ranking eighth in MLB.
- Kansas City has scored 554 runs this season, which ranks ninth in MLB.
- The Royals have an on-base percentage of .311 this season, which ranks 17th in the league.
- Kansas City has shown patience at the plate this season with the second-best rate of strikeouts per game (6.8) among MLB offenses.
Cardinals stats and trends
Cardinals betting records
- The Cardinals have been victorious in 27, or 49.1%, of the 55 contests they have been chosen as underdogs in this season.
- St. Louis has a mark of 20-24 in contests where bookmakers favor it by +100 or worse on the moneyline.
- The Cardinals have an implied victory probability of 50% according to the moneyline set by oddsmakers for this matchup.
- St. Louis and its opponents have hit the over in 55 of its 115 games with a total set by oddsmakers this season.
- The Cardinals are 57-57-0 against the spread in their 114 games that had a posted line this season.
Miles Mikolas (Cardinals probable starter)
- Mikolas (8-9) takes the mound first for the Cardinals in his 24th start of the season. He’s put together a 5.12 ERA in 128 1/3 innings pitched, with 86 strikeouts.
- The right-hander’s last time out came on Sunday against the Chicago Cubs, when he went four innings, surrendering four earned runs while allowing eight hits.
- The 35-year-old has an ERA of 5.12, with 6 strikeouts per nine innings in 23 games this season. Opponents have a .280 batting average against him.
- Mikolas is trying to secure his 14th quality start of the year in this outing.
- Mikolas has pitched five or more innings in a game 17 times this year heading into this outing.
- He has held his opponents without an earned run in two of his 23 appearances this season.
- He meets a Royals offense that ranks ninth in the league with 554 total runs scored while batting .253 as a unit. His opponent has a collective .414 slugging percentage (10th in MLB play) and has hit a total of 126 home runs (17th in the league).
- The 35-year-old ranks 65th in ERA (5.12), 50th in WHIP (1.270), and 67th in K/9 (6) among qualifying pitchers in MLB play this season.
Cardinals batting stats
- The Cardinals rank 21st in MLB action with 118 home runs. They average one per game.
- So far this season, St. Louis is 19th in the majors with a .386 slugging percentage.
- The Cardinals have the 13th-ranked batting average in the majors (.246).
- Averaging 4.1 runs per game (481 total), St. Louis is the 22nd-highest scoring team in MLB.
- The Cardinals’ .309 on-base percentage is 19th in baseball.
