The Chicago White Sox will try and play the role of spoiler when they face the AL Central rival Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night in the first of a three-game set at Kauffman Stadium. This Game 1 clash slated to get underway at 8:10 p.m. (ET), and it will be available on MLB Extra Innings.

The White Sox have long since been out of the playoff hunt with the second-worst record in the American League, but they do bring a three-game winning streak into this matchup after winning the final three games of a four-game weekend series on the road against Minnesota. They are now 49-74 overall and 26-36 on the road.

Kansas City’s fading playoff hopes took a hit with back-to-back losses to Detroit this past weekend. It now trails the Tigers by 8.5 games in the division and is six full games out of the final wild-card spot in the American League. The Royals are 64-59 on the year and 33-28 at home.

White Sox at Royals Betting Storylines

Whatever could go wrong for Chicago this season has with a lineup that is ranked dead last in the AL in scoring. It did manage to score a total of 18 runs in the three victories over the Twins, but overall this team is averaging just 3.7 runs a game. The one bright spot has been the bat of Adam Dunn. Through 123 games he has belted 73 RBI and 23 home runs.

The White Sox will send John Danks to the mound on Tuesday night as their starter. The left-hander is looking for his first victory since early July after going 0-5 in his last eight starts with an ERA of 4.70. Danks is just 2-10 this season with a 4.54 ERA, but he is a perfect 5-0 against Kansas City with a 2.74 ERA over the course of his career.

The Royals have not been known as one of the better-hitting teams in the AL with a team batting average of .259 and an average of four runs a game, but they have been able to get runners across the plate when they needed to the most in an impressive run to get back into contention in the AL playoff race. However, after posting a 14-3 mark from late July until just this past week, that ability to generate runs has fallen off with a 2-5 record in their last seven outings.

Kansas City will try and right the ship with Ervin Santana as its starter for this series opener. The right-hander is coming off a strong outing against Miami in which he allowed just one run on eight hits in six full innings of work. Overall, he is 8-6 on the year with a 3.19 ERA, which includes a solid 3-0 record and 2.61 ERA in his last six starts. Santana is 5-5 against Chicago with an ERA of 4.06.

White Sox at Royals MLB Betting Odds and Trends

BetOnline has opened the White Sox as +167 road underdogs for Tuesday night’s series opener with Kansas City listed as a -177 home favorite. The total for this contest has been set at 7.5.

The White Sox are 3-10 in their last 13 games on the road but 5-2 in their last seven games against the AL Central. The total has stayed “under” in six of their last seven road games.

The Royals are 10-4 in their last 14 division games and 9-4 in their last 13 games at home. The total has gone 1-6-2 in their last nine home games.

Head-to-head in this matchup, Kansas City has a slight 7-5 edge in the season series, and each team has won three times in the six games played at Kauffman Stadium. The total has stayed under in nine of the first 12 games between these two this year.

MLB Picks: White Sox at Royals Predictions

Chicago has been able to keep this series pretty tight this season, but it will struggle to win this game with Danks on the mound. The Royals do not have a huge edge given their lack of consistency at the plate as of late, but it is enough of an edge to bet on them to grab the early lead in this series with a win on Tuesday night, especially with Santana on the mound.

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