Free Pick | MLB | Friday | May 9

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#964 Kansas City Royals (Lorenzen) -100 over Boston Red Sox (Dobbins) 6:40 PM CT

Boston won the final two games of its home series with Texas the past two days, but they didn’t get either starting pitcher through five innings and the Red Sox haven’t received a six-inning starting effort in any of the past five games. The bullpen has been mediocre for the Red Sox this season though with improving numbers in recent weeks. The unit doesn’t compare favorably with the Kansas City bullpen that has been on a dominant run, including a 0.93 ERA in the past 10 games. The Royals are 9-1 in the past 10 games after posting a shutout yesterday to sweep the White Sox and while the competition on the recent run of success has included losing teams, Kansas City has four shutout wins in the past nine games while only once allowing more than three runs. The Royals have also stepped up at the plate, batting .300 with 4.8 runs per nine vs. right-handers in the past 10 games to make up for a slow start to the season for the offense. Veteran Michael Lorenzen has been a capable option so far this season including delivering a 1.50 ERA in 12 innings at Kauffman Stadium. Lorenzen had his worst start of the season in his last start, and he can be a home run risk, but he also has five starts of at least five innings and three or fewer earned runs already this season. Rookie Hunter Dobbins is likely to be a less consistent starter for the Red Sox. Dobbins had a 6.39 ERA in his AAA starts before being called up and his FIP in three MLB starts is 4.19 with a 7.0 K/9. Dobbins is yet to make a road start as this will be the first MLB road start of his career and it comes vs. a Royals team that is 15-5 in home games this season, while the Royals own an AL-best 20 wins vs. right-handed starters. Boston has strong season numbers at the plate but the Red Sox have been held to four or fewer runs in four of the past seven games for some recent inconsistency and Rafael Devers publicly acknowledging his refusal to change positions may not be the best signal for the overall fitness of the clubhouse.