Tigers vs. Royals: Picks, predictions, how to watch Monday’s game

The Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals square off on Monday with first pitch set for 2:10 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri and will be available to watch on ESPN+. Michael Pineda (2-3, 3.62 ERA) will start for the Tigers with Brad Keller (4-9, 4.37 ERA) throwing for the Royals.

Detroit (36-49) will head into the first game of Monday’s doubleheader after losing consecutive games to the Chicago White Sox, scoring just 2 runs over those two matchups. Pineda will make start No. 8 of 2022 as he makes his third outing since coming off the injured list. The Tigers have one of the worst offenses in baseball with 3.2 runs per game, which ranks 29th in the league, and Javier Baez is the team leader in home runs with 9 after going yard in yesterday’s loss.

Kansas City (32-52) took two of three games against the Cleveland Guardians over the weekend but still has one of the worst records in the league. Keller will make start No. 17 of the season and is coming off an outing where he gave up 4 runs over 5.2 innings in last week’s victory over the Houston Astros. The Royals rank 26th in runs per game (3.9), and Bobby Witt Jr. leads the team in home runs (12) and RBIs (42) in his first MLB season.

Tigers vs. Royals

Pitchers: Michael Pineda vs. Brad Keller
First pitch: 2:10 p.m. ET
Tigers local broadcast: Bally Sports Detroit
Royals local broadcast: Bally Sports Kansas City
Live stream: WatchESPN, ESPN app with an ESPN+ subscription

Odds, picks & predictions

Run Line: Royals -1.5 (+135)
Run total: 9
Moneyline odds: Royals -145, Tigers +125

Moneyline pick: Tigers +125

There is not a ton of value on taking -145 odds on a team with an offense as bad as the Royals has been in 2022. The Tigers have struggled at the plate as well, but let’s roll with the underdogs based mostly on the potential payout. Pineda has been a better pitcher than Keller in a smaller sample size, and Detroit is the way to go in Game 1.

Player prop pick: Michael Pineda Over 2.5 strikeouts (-125)

Michael Pineda’s strikeout numbers have been extremely low this season with a 4.7 K/9, which is far lower than his career average (8.4). This is definitely an outlier looking at his previous season totals, so he should start striking out hitters at a higher rate.

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