Yanks And Royals Collide In Playoff Race
The Kansas City Royals are in the proverbial hunt for a spot in the playoffs, and they are going to take the hunt to New York as they prepare for a battle with the Yankees.
This will be a three-game series and could make all the difference between the Royals nabbing the AL Central No. 1 spot or giving it up to the Detroit Tigers.
In the Royals last game they beat the Texas Rangers 4-1 to give them a one-game lead over the Tigers in the Al Central.
The Yankees are still in the Wild Card hunt. They need a lot of start to align however. They will need four wins and have Detroit to take some losses before they can capture a Wild Card spot.
For the first game of the series the Royals will put their fate into the hands of pitcher James Shields.
Ideally, Shields’ lucky number is 30, as he will be making his 30th start as a Royal and his 30th start against the New York Yankees.
Shields has a 9-16 record against the Yankees with a 4.33 ERA in his career. However, in more recent history he has gone 4-3 against the Yankes with a 3.67 ERA.
Shields should be familiar with this Yankees squad as it was just a couple weeks ago on Aug. 25 that he pitched against the Yankees. In that game he allowed six runs on 10 hits over 6 2/3 innings. The Royals will need to see a better outing from Shields in this game.
Shields will be on the road in this game. When pitching away from home over the last two years he is 18-5 with a 2.64 ERA, that includes a 3-1 win over the Yanks last year.
In his last outing he only allowed one run against the Cleveland Indians. The Royals still took the loss, though.
Michael Pineda will counter Shields. Since returning from injury on Aug. 13, Pineda has been pitching well.
He has had four starts and has allowed just six runs over those 23 1/3 innings. He has given up 18 hits with just one walk while sending 15 batters back to the dugout with strikeouts.
The last time Pineda was on the mound he gave up two runs on seven hits to the Toronto Blue Jays. That was too much for the Yanks to overcome, as they lost 2-0.
The Yankees are the favorites to win with a –120 moneyline. The Royals moneyline is set at EVEN. The game starts at 8:05 p.m.
