Kansas City Royals vs Cleveland Guardians Prediction, 7/9/2023 MLB Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Kansas City Royals vs Cleveland Guardians

Date: Sunday, July 9, 2023

Location: Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH

TV: Bally Sports Great Lakes

Progressive Field is the location where the Cleveland Guardians (43-44) will compete against the Kansas City Royals (25-63) on Sunday. The men taking the mound are Ryan Yarbrough and Shane Bieber.

The Royals have tallied 138 doubles as a squad and have hit 76 balls out of the park. Kansas City is slugging .369 and have struck out 800 times, while being walked on 234 occasions. As a squad, the Kansas City Royals are earning 3.7 runs per game, which has them at 29th in baseball. They have earned 312 RBI's and 678 base knocks for the season, and their batting average is .231. They have 327 runs scored while holding a team on-base percentage of .295.

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The Royals have compiled a team earned run average of 5.28 on the season (28th in the league), and the staff has rung up 704 hitters. Royals pitchers have given up 105 long balls and also 478 runs in total (28th in baseball). They have walked 323 players from the other team and their FIP comes in at 4.62 as a unit this season. Kansas City has relinquished 782 hits (9.2 per 9 innings) as well as 449 earned runs. Their strikeout to walk ratio is 2.18 and the pitching staff has a collective WHIP of 1.44.

The Royals relief pitchers have recorded a save percentage of 50.0% and stepped onto the hill in 49 save situations. The relievers have inherited 100 runners over the course of the season with 40.0% of them ended up scoring. Royals pitchers have gone to the mound with players on base 60 times and also have had 71 appearances in high leverage situations. The Royals have dispatched 290 relievers to the hill for the season. The bullpen have notched 25 holds on the year (28th in the league). They have 12 saves so far this season and have blown 12 of 24 chances to get a save.

The Royals have converted 67.9% of baseballs in play into outs out of their 6,888 innings on the field, which has them sitting at 26th in professional baseball. The Kansas City Royals have 2,296 putouts at this point in the season, as well as 733 assists and 43 errors. Their fielding percentage is currently at .986 which is 15th in professional baseball, and have a total of 65 double plays.

Yarbrough (41-35 career mark) has a FIP of 4.19 while he has faced 2,546 hitters in the major leagues. He has given up 593 base hits (8.8 hits per nine innings) and has had 138 free passes. His ERA is 4.41 (297 earned runs allowed) and he has a WHIP of 1.206. Yarbrough has thrown 606 innings and has earned 481 strikeouts thus far in his career.

Cleveland has 59 home runs on the season to go along with 325 RBIs. They have hit 157 doubles, while walking 261 times as well as earning 351 runs. The Cleveland Guardians have earned a team on-base percentage of .313 in addition to a team batting average of .249 on the campaign. The Guardians hold a team slugging percentage of .374 and they score 4.03 runs per game (27th in MLB). They have struck out on 622 occasions (29th in the league) and have earned 738 hits.

The Guardians have a team WHIP of 1.268 with a FIP of 4.16 as a team so far this year. Their strikeout to walk ratio is 7.80 (682 strikeouts vs 269 free passes). They are sitting at 15th in the league as a pitching staff in total hits relinquished with 724. They have given up 89 long balls and they surrender 4.16 runs per 9 innings (6th in the league). The Cleveland pitching staff have conceded 362 runs on the year and come in with a team ERA of 3.83 (333 earned runs yielded).

With 92 save situations, the Guardians have amassed 46 holds and 17 blown saves. Cleveland has had bullpen pitchers take the mound in 44 save opportunities and they have earned 27 saves. Their bullpen pitchers have stepped onto the mound 115 times in high leverage situations and on 76 occasions with runners on base. Cleveland bullpen pitchers have an inherited score rate of 20.0% out of 95 inherited base runners. They sit at 16th in MLB holding a save percentage of 61.4%, and they have dispatched 282 bullpen pitchers onto the diamond this season.

The Cleveland Guardians have turned 57 double plays and hold a fielding percentage of .987 (8th in MLB). The Guardians have recorded 808 assists, 42 errors and have earned a total of 2,350 putouts for the season. In their 7,050 innings played, the Guardians hold a defensive efficiency of 70.5% (5th in pro baseball).

Bieber (59-31 mark in his career) has a 3.24 ERA while allowing 8.0 hits per 9 innings. He has a K/BB ratio of 4.95 and he has gone up against 3,298 opposing batters in his MLB career. He has surrendered a total of 293 ER's while holding a WHIP of 1.116 and being the owner of a FIP of 3.2. In his MLB career, Bieber has surrendered 722 base hits while he has totaled 920 punch outs in 813 frames.

Who will win tonight's MLB game against the spread or moneyline?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Kansas City

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