Friday, June 20, 2014, 7:10 PM on ROOT, FSKC

Ewing M. Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Seattle Mariners - Iwakuma, H (5-3) vs. Kansas City Royals - Shields, J (8-3)

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On Friday night, Hisashi Iwakuma will go for his sixth win of the season for the Seattle Mariners when they face right-hander James Shields and the Kansas City Royals.

Hisashi Iwakuma was able to go eight innings against the Texas Rangers at home on Sunday and picked up his fifth win of the season along the way. He allowed just one run on six hits in that start and walked no one while striking out six. He has a 2.59 ERA this season and has only given up 56 hits in 66 innings.

Royals outfielder Nori Aoki has just one hit in seven at-bats against Iwakuma in his career with no walks and a strikeout. None of the current Royals have been able to hit a home run off of the right-hander yet.

James Shields won his second game in a row on Sunday and his eighth overall this season when he was able to defeat the Chicago White Sox on the road. He pitched six innings in that start and allowed three runs on 10 hits while walking one and striking out three. Shields now has a 8-3 record on the year, and while he has pitched well, he owes a lot of his success to his offense, which has scored 5.32 runs per nine innings in his starts.

All-Star Robinson Cano is 32-for-81 against Shields with eight doubles, two triples, four home runs and 13 RBI.

Seattle Mariners Betting Trends

Seattle Mariners are 30-37-4 against the Over/Under

Run Differential for Seattle Mariners is 0.5

Kansas City Royals Betting Trends

Kansas City Royals are 34-32-4 against the Over/Under

Run differential for Kansas City Royals is 0.3

Injuries to Watch

Seattle Mariners

06/12/14 1B Justin Smoak Quad 15-day DL (6/10)
06/12/14 CF Michael Saunders Shoulder 15-day DL (6/11)
05/20/14 1B Corey Hart Hamstring 15-day DL (5/19)
04/16/14 P Blake Beavan Shoulder 60-day DL (4/15)
04/09/14 P James Paxton Back 60-day DL (4/8)

Kansas City Royals

06/18/14 RF Norichika Aoki Groin questionable
06/01/14 3B Danny Valencia Hand 15-day DL (6/1)
05/02/14 P Bruce Chen Back 15-day DL (4/25)
03/30/14 P Luke Hochevar Elbow 60-day DL (3/21)

Guy's Pick: Take Kansas City

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