Blue Jays vs. Royals prediction and odds for Tuesday, April 4 (Another high-scoring game in KC)

It’s been tough offensively for the Kansas City Royals, at least it was until the Toronto Blue Jays and Jose Berrios came to town. The dormant bats of Kansas City managed three runs in the first inning off Berrios yesterday and KC finished with a 9-5 win. 

1-3 Toronto will look to bounce back with Yusei Kikuchi on the mound today in KC. The Royals are also 1-3 and will hand the ball to Kris Bubic. Both left-handers are yet to take the mound this season. 

Which southpaw will have the advantage in this one? Here are the odds for Toronto and Kansas City in Game 2 of a three-game series. 

Blue Jays vs. Royals odds, run line and total

Blue Jays vs. Royals prediction and pick

Kris Bubic made 27 starts for the Kansas City Royals in his age 24 season and for any team to start a pitcher like Bubic this many times, they have to be trying to lose games. He finished with a 5.58 ERA in 129.0 innings pitched.

So, he was giving up runs early in outings and then putting the KC bullpen in a terrible spot. He was in the third percentile in the MLB in expected ERA, second percentile in expected batting average, and ninth percentile in expected slugging. 

The Blue Jays will absolutely tee off on Bubic in this one. This lineup of power hitters only has one homer run through four games, but I fully expect that to change today.

The only thing is, we can’t really trust Yusei Kikuchi to slam the door shut on a Royals lineup that has some confidence finally. He was an all-star in 2021 (because of a good first half), but in 2022 he made 20 starts, 12 appearances out of the bullpen and finished with a 5.19. He basically allowed a hit an inning and gave up 23 home runs in 100.2 innings. 

It’s a very high total, so Vegas is expecting some fireworks and I think they’ll get them. Toronto put up four runs in the last three innings yesterday, so once Bubic is pulled, they’ll keep hitting off of the KC bullpen. 

Bo Bichette has the lone homer for the Blue Jays this season. He had reverse splits last season, meaning he hit better off right-handers than lefties, so did Vlad Guerrero Jr. so that is the one concernce for the Toronto offense against Bubic.

I don't think it'll be a big issue because everybody hit the ball hard off Bubic last year.

Follow all Josh Yourish’s bets HERE

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change