Royals Go for Sweep of Mariners

The Seattle Mariners try to turn things around and avoid a sweep when they take on the Kansas City Royals in the last of a four-game weekend series on Sunday. The series finale is scheduled for a 4:10 p.m. ET first pitch at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

The Royals won their third straight with a 4-2 victory on Saturday, improving to 59-70. Kansas City is in fourth place in the American League Central, trailing the third-place Detroit Tigers by 2½ games and leading the last-place Minnesota Twins by two games.

Seattle is seeing its playoff hopes dwindle with each loss as it has fallen to 69-61. The Mariners are in third place in the AL West, trailing the second-place Oakland Athletics by two games. Seattle is now 5½ games behind the Boston Red Sox for the second Wild Card spot in the American League.

For betting online on this game, the MLB lines have the Mariners with a moneyline of -148, while the Royals are listed at +133, with the over/under set at 8½ runs.

Surprising Surge

The Royals have won 10 of 13 heading into Sunday’s game, which is more than a sixth of their team wins. They’re doing it thanks to one of the hottest hitters in baseball right now, catcher Salvador Perez.

Perez moved to second in baseball with his 37th home run on Saturday, giving him four straight games with a homer and seven over the last nine games. Perez has driven in 10 runs in this series, hitting grand slams in each of the first two games. He had a chance for a third in the third inning of Saturday’s contest but popped out.

“I’m surprised he didn’t hit another grand slam,” Kansas City manager Mike Matheny said after Saturday’s win. “I mean, that’s just the kind of player he is right now. It’s unbelievable.”

Right-hander Brady Singer will be on the mound for the Royals. The 25-year-old is 3-9 with a 5.07 ERA, dropping his last five decisions.

Singer is 0-2 with a 4.70 ERA in three August starts. His last two starts were against Houston, and he allowed just three earned runs over 11.2 innings against the high-powered Astros.

Needing a Turnaround

Seattle came into this series feeling good after winning three straight against the two teams in front of them in the AL West race, Houston and Oakland. But things have not gone right in this series and the Astros are coming to town for a three-game set starting Monday.

The Mariners are batting a combined .261 in this series, with top power hitters Mitch Haniger and Kyle Seager combining for three extra-base hits and one RBI. With the Royals hitting as well as they have and the Astrosup next, the offense must improve or the Mariners will fall deeper out of Wild Card contention.

Seattle will have left-hander Marco Gonzales on the mound. He is 5-5 with a 4.13 ERA, though he’s won his last four decisions.

In five starts in August, Gonzales has been great, going 2-0 with a 1.36 ERA. He did allow three earned runs and two home runs against the Athletics on Monday in his last start, though he took a no-decision in a Seattle win.

Mariners Bounce Back

Seattle is in desperate need of a win, and Gonzales has been pitching well this month for the most part. Singer has been struggling a bit, and the Mariners should be able to get some runs on the board against him.

When doing your MLB betting, take Seattle to win at home.