Game of the Week MLB 10*
(MLB) Kansas City vs. San Diego, 05/17/2023 4:10 PM, Score: 4 - 3
Point Spread: -1.50 | -114.00 San Diego (Home)
Result: Loss
#974 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* San Diego Padres -1.5 on the Run Line (-115) over Kansas City Royals, Wednesday at 4:10 PM ET - There is going to be false market perception here in the betting markets because the Padres have been slumping but they faced a tough road slate with 6 straight away games before this series started.  As for the Royals, their 4 most recent wins (before yesterday's 5-4 victory over here at San Diego) came against bad teams - White Sox and Athletics.  The White Sox and Oakland and Kansas City are 3 of the worst teams in the majors thus far this season.  Facing San Diego's ace Yu Darvish will quickly bring KC back to reality here and the Padres will break out of their slump tonight.  San Diego did win the first game of this series 4-0 and another big win should come here.  Darvish ranked 7th in the N.L. in strike outs last season!  He is piling up strikeouts again this season plus has allowed only 1 earned in 3 of his 4 home starts this season.  We are going action on pitchers here because the Royals are expected to start Carlos Hernandez (5.05 career ERA) but he will be more of an opener as he has been working out of the bullpen again this season and is unlikely to go more than 3 innings here.  That being said, KC may even use a different opener and then bring in Hernandez.  Either way, expect plenty of Royals bullpen in this one and that is good news for the Padres lineup as the KC bullpen has a team ERA of 4.86 so far this season which ranks among the worst in MLB.  Also, the Royals had lost 14 of last 18 road games before yesterday's rare win.  Speaking of rare, the Royals have struggled to build any momentum this season with their longest winning streak being 2 games.  Also, KC is 0-4 this year when off a 1-run win and they took yesterday's game by a 5-4 count.  26 of 31 Royals losses this season have been by at least a 2-run margin and 85% of San Diego wins this season have been by a multi-run margin.  This game has home blowout written all over it.  We like the Padres on the run line in this one.