The Boston Red Sox continue their current 10-game road trip with a four-day visit to Kauffman Stadium to square off against the Kansas City Royals. Thursday night’s Game 1 is slated to get underway at 8:10 p.m. (ET), and it will be available on MLB Extra Innings.

The Red Sox will go for the series win at Houston on Wednesday after splitting the first two games against the Astros that included a wild 15-10 victory on Tuesday night as -171 road favorites. They are now 7-3 in their last 10 games.

Kansas City continues to stay in the AL Central race with a 12-2 record in its last 14 games that has it 8.5 games in back of Detroit. It was blanked by Minnesota 7-0 on Tuesday as a -184 home favorite after doing the same thing to the Brewers on Monday in a 13-0 romp as a -152 favorite at home. That series concludes on Wednesday as well.

Red Sox at Royals Betting Storylines

Boston is starting to gain some solid traction in its quest to win the jumbled AL East. The Red Sox are still just a game and half ahead of Tampa Bay at 69-46 overall, but they have averaged 6.4 runs a game in their last eight outings to add to their MLB-best average of 5.1 runs a game. David Ortiz leads the team with 73 RBI and 21 home runs, but Boston has eight other players with at least 30 RBI on the year.

Pitching has remained fairly solid for the Red Sox with a team ERA of 3.83, which is ranked fifth in the American League. They will send Jon Lester to the mound as their starter for Thursday night. The left-hander struggled his last time out against Arizona after posting three strong outings to close out the month of July. Overall, he is 10-6 on the year with a 4.52 ERA. Against Kansas City he is 6-2 with an ERA of just 1.64.

The Royals have been one of the hottest teams in the Majors over the past few weeks. However, they are chasing a Detroit team that has been even hotter. Nonetheless, the Kansas City fans have to be thrilled the way this team has exceeded everyone’s expectations this season. The Royals are tied with the Tigers for the top ERA in the American League at 3.57, and their hitting is tied for seventh with a .257 team batting average. As a team, they are averaging just over four runs a game.

Look for Bruce Chen to get the start in this series opener. After spending a good deal of the season in the bullpen, the left-hander has been productive as a starter. In four starts, he has gone at least six innings in each while giving up a total of four runs along the way. Chen is 4-6 with a 5.59 ERA lifetime against Boston.

Red Sox at Royals MLB Betting Odds and Trends

BetOnline has opened the Red Sox as -118 road favorites for Thursday night’s series opener with Kansas City listed as a +108 home underdog. The total for this contest has been set at 8.

The Red Sox are 3-1 in their last four road games, and the total has stayed “under” in 14 of their last 21 games overall.

The Royals are 6-3 in their last nine games at home, and the total has stayed under in 10 of their last 14 games.

Kansas City drew first blood in the season series against Boston by taking two out of three on the road in late April. The total stayed under in two of the three games.

MLB Picks: Red Sox at Royals Betting Predictions

Both teams come into this series in excellent form, but I give the edge in this matchup to the Red Sox. Lester is starting to regain his form and has obviously had good success against the Royals in the past. Chen has also pitched well in a starting role, but he has yet to face a team with this hitting power that Boston has. Both pitchers should be able to keep the score fairly low into the latter part of the game, but in the end stick with the Red Sox to come away with the win.

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