Chicago White Sox vs. Kansas City Royals Odds, Line, Picks, and Prediction - September 1 | 2022 MLB Season
The Chicago White Sox will play the Kansas City Royals on Thursday afternoon in the series rubbermatch. The White Sox defeated the Royals on Wednesday to improve to 64-66 on the season. Chicago is now five games behind the American League Central-leading Cleveland Guardians.
W. https://t.co/hhQtktGAuC
"W." - whitesox
Meanwhile, the Royals find themselves at 53-78 on the year following the defeat. Kansas City has been a subpar team on the road all year, sporting just a 21-41 away record. The White Sox are four games under .500 at home, though, which is concerning this late into the season.
Chicago's Johnny Cueto gets the call on Thursday afternoon. He is 6-6 with a 2.88 ERA, and he'll be making his 19th start. He's been steady this season, and he'll be pitching against an abysmal Royals lineup. Despite how bad the Royals' offense has been this year, lately, they've averaged six runs per game in their last seven.
In his previous start, Cueto threw five innings, allowing five hits and seven earned runs while fanning four in a loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. When Cueto faced the Royals a few weeks ago, he tossed a quality start, so we'll see if he can have a similar performance on Thursday.
Daniel Mengden gets the call Thursday for the Royals. He's thrown just 4 1/3 innings this year, as he's spent most of the season in the minors. Chicago's lineup, which scores the 10th-fewest runs per game, isn't very consistent, but they do have capable hitters in the order.
Mengden doesn't have many stats to go off of, and he wasn't exactly dominating in Triple-A, so expect the White Sox to muster some offense off the righty.
Chicago White Sox vs. Kansas City Royals Match Details
Fixture: Kansas City Royals @ Chicago White Sox
Date & Time: Thursday, September 1, 2:10 p.m. EDT
Venue: Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago, Illinois
Chicago White Sox vs. Kansas City Royals Betting Odds
Chicago White Sox vs. Kansas City Royals Best Picks
Bobby Witt Jr. is the Royals' exciting rookie shortstop. He's shown why he's been a top prospect even though he hasn't logged a ton of major league at-bats.
Witt Jr. excels against low-strikeout pitchers (righties), too, as he's slugging .707 in these matchups. At this stage in his career, Cueto averages just 5.6 strikeouts per nine innings. Witt Jr. has a .604 slugging over the past two weeks, so look for him to keep producing from the top of the lineup.
Pick: Bobby Witt Jr. Over 1.5 Total Bases (-110)
Chicago White Sox vs. Kansas City Royals Betting Prediction
Look at Cueto's last nine starts. Six of them have gone under with one push. We saw a lot of runs on Tuesday, but the scoring slowed down on Wednesday. Expect both starters to do a decent job limiting runs early in today's contest.
Prediction: First 5 Innings Under 5 Runs (-120)