Free Pick | MLB | Wednesday | Sep. 6

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#974 Kansas City Royals (Lyles) -110 over Chicago White Sox (Toussaint) 6:40 PM CT

While coming back from down 6-0 to win is a fortunate result, the Royals had plenty of opportunities to stay with the White Sox earlier in the game last night, featuring an 11-5 edge in at-bats with runners in scoring position. Kansas City left the bases loaded without scoring in the 2nd inning and didn’t score in the 3rd despite a leadoff triple. The White Sox still have some power potential at the plate, but the pitching staff is a mess right now as Chicago limps to the finish of an incredibly disappointing season riding a 17-38 run since July 1 that includes a winless September so far while outscored by 25 runs in those five games. The lineup for the Royals has scored 40 runs in the first five games of September and hidden behind the ugly 4-15 record for Jordan Lyles are several decent starts in recent weeks. He allowed just four hits in eight innings last Friday and has allowed four or fewer runs in eight of his last 12 starts, picking up three wins since late July. The current bullpen advantage has been on display for Kansas City in this series with a 3.63 ERA so far in September and Kansas City only had to use three pitchers last night as Brady Singer weathered the early storm and Angel Zerpa put up zeroes to give Kansas City a chance to chip away at the deficit. A 1st round pick by Arizona way back in 2014, Touki Toussaint has only 235 MLB innings to his name. He has allowed three or more runs in five of his last six starts getting an opportunity for Chicago while he has allowed 12 runs in 15 innings in his past three road starts. While the Royals have one of the worst records in baseball, the young lineup has offered some recent promise and the September splits vs. right-handers offers a great contrast between these teams with Kansas City batting .342 with 8.5 runs per nine compared to Chicago batting .238 with 3.2 runs per nine. Off an emotional win Tuesday night, Kansas City is a threat to carry that momentum into another strong performance Wednesday night in this AL Central basement battle.