BEST LINE: Pinnacle +119

Posted at 11:45 AM EST.

The Royals have won four in a row and have outscored the opposition 23-11 over that span. Kansas City represents one of those odd anomalies in the game in that they have the third best road BA in the AL but they have the third worst road SLG in the league. That doesn’t make a lot of sense but those things even out over time and it suggests that the Royals may be on the verge of scoring plenty more. They’ll now face Jose Quintana in this hitter’s park. Over the past two seasons, Quintana has a 4.11 ERA against the Royals in five starts. Quintana’s lack of a dominant offering is offset by his four-pitch mix and strong command vs. both LH and RH bats. Quintana will rarely dominate and he’ll rarely throw a disaster but the South Side has lost seven of Quintana's past 10 games and one of those defeats was back in Kansas City on May 21. Quintana is serviceable but we would not trust him as the chalk in this spot.

Jeremy Guthrie is not high on anyone’s list of dependable starting pitchers. For whatever reason, however, Guthrie has put up some solid numbers against this group. In fact, in 267 combined AB’s, current White Sox have just 59 hits against Guthrie for a BA of just .221. The Royals have one of the major’s best pens and that certainly adds to their appeal here. The Royals always seem to play well at U.S. Cellular. They’ve won seven of the past eight games at this venue and now they’re heating up heading into the opener of this series. Great value on a very live pooch.