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The Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Royals square off on Friday with first pitch set for 8:10 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Baltimore will start Bruce Zimmermann (2-4, 4.87 ERA) while Kansas City will counter with Jonathan Heasley (0-3, 4.62 ERA).
The Orioles (24-34) are in last place of the AL East sitting 17.5 games back of the New York Yankees and six games back of the fourth-place Boston Red Sox. Baltimore dropped the first game of this four-game series on Thursday, 7-5. They are 2-3 over their last five games and need to build some momentum in this series. In his last outing, Zimmermann pitched 5.2 innings giving up 10 hits and five earned runs while taking his fourth loss of the season.
The Royals (19-37) are seeing their lineup open up as both Carlos Santana and MJ Melendez went yard in Thursday’s win. After going 2-8 in their last 10 games, Kansas City has won two games in a row. The Royals are 12.5 games back of the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central. Heasley will be making his sixth start of the year and is still looking for his first win of the year. He pitched six innings giving up seven hits and three earned runs in his last start.
Orioles vs. Royals
Pitchers: Bruce Zimmermann vs. Jonathan Heasley
First pitch: 8:10 p.m. ET
Orioles local broadcast: MASN
Royals local broadcast: Bally Sports Kansas City
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Odds, picks & predictions
Run Line: Baltimore -1.5
Run total: 9.5
Moneyline odds: Baltimore -115, Kansas City -105
Moneyline pick: Baltimore -115
It feels weird picking the Orioles to win a baseball game, but here we are. Zimmermann pitched well against the Royals earlier this season and Kansas City’s lineup isn’t the epitome of consistency this year. Baltimore isn’t lighting up the stat sheet, but they still have a better chance to win this game.
Player prop pick: Bruce Zimmermann over 3.5 strikeouts (-105)
Zimmermann punched out five batters in his first outing against the Royals. Kansas City does have the fourth-fewest strikeouts as a team, but Zimmermann will be able to strike out at least four batters on Friday.
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