Detroit Tigers vs. Kansas City Royals Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 4/14/2022

Time: 8:10 p.m. ET

Venue: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO

Where to watch: Bally Sports Detroit, Bally Sports Kansas City

DraftKings: Royals -125, Tigers +105

BetMGM: Royals -125, Tigers +105

Caesars: Royals -125, Tigers +105

Tigers: 2-4

Royals: 2-3

Rain delays and weather postponements can do wonders for a team if they end up not playing the day before. In the case of the Kansas City Royals, perhaps getting out of the crazy weather that’s going on in St. Louis might be what the doctor ordered.

The Royals had their series finale against the Cardinals postponed and will now return home to begin a four-game series against the Detroit Tigers with the first matchup on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium. Instead of using Zack Greinke for the finale in St. Louis, he will go against Casey Mize for Detroit.

To get you caught up on the last time the Royals took the field, they lost 6-5 to the Cardinals in what was a historic night for Albert Pujols hitting his 680th homer of his career. Salvador Perez answered with two homers of his own, but there was not enough in the tank to get the victory.

"It feels great, but the most important thing is to win the game," Perez said after his 13th multi-homer game of his career. "If I hit a homer and we lose, I feel kind of horrible for the team."

The Royals have struggled to score runs so far, but hopefully Perez’s power can turn the corner. We can’t forget that the Royals are still integrating some new pieces into the lineup, particularly Bobby Witt Jr., and will need some time. Andrew Benintendi has been their best offensive player so far with getting on base as well as driving in runs, and if they can get the Boston version of Benintendi, that’s a great start for them.

Kansas City will welcome a Detroit team that has lost four of five since their Opening Day win over the Chicago White Sox. The Tigers are coming off a 9-7 loss to the Boston Red Sox and losing two of three to the other Sox. Boston got to former teammate Eduardo Rodriguez early and often, pulling him in the fourth inning after Boston took a 9-2 lead heading into the seventh.

Rodriguez gave up seven runs over 3.2 innings after signing a five-year, $77 million contract with Detroit in the offseason.

"If you make a mistake, you're going to pay for it," Rodriguez said. "That's what happened in that inning. Too much of the plate and too much of the strike zone."

Detroit scored five runs in the seventh and eighth innings combined to trim the lead, and part of that included top prospect Spencer Torkelson hitting his first major league home run to start cutting into the lead. The Tigers just ran out of gas despite getting 11 hits with all but one player registering a hit.

"I kind of stood there and enjoyed it a little bit,” he said. “I didn’t mean to show up the pitcher or anything. I just knew I got it as soon as I hit it, so I just wanted to enjoy it. We were down a little bit and it wasn't a huge home run,” he said. “But in my mind, I just wanted to soak in that moment and enjoy it, watching that ball go.”

The Tigers are hoping to keep that type of play going after adding Javy Baez to the middle of the lineup, but need the combination of pitching and timely hitting in order to make it worthwhile.

If not for the travel, I’d say the Tigers have a good chance to win this one. But given they have to travel and the Royals get the added day off, I like the home team to get an offensive surge back on their side and get a victory. Royals win 5-4

Tigers are 33-31 the past three years when the ML is between +125 and -125.

Tigers are 42-63 the past three seasons as a road underdog.

Royals are 30-23 the past three seasons when the ML is between -100 and -150.

Tigers:
Victor Reyes (S) RF
Austin Meadows (L) LF
Jonathan Schoop (R) 2B
Jeimer Candelario (S) 3B
Eric Haase (R) DH
Harold Castro (L) SS
Spencer Torkelson (R) 1B
Tucker Barnhart (S) C
Akil Baddoo (L) CF

Royals:
Whit Merrifield (R) RF
Bobby Witt Jr. (R) 3B
Andrew Benintendi (L) LF
Salvador Perez (R) DH
Carlos Santana (S) 1B
Adalberto Mondesi (S) SS
Michael A. Taylor (R) CF
Nicky Lopez (L) 2B
Cam Gallagher (R) C

DET: Casey Mize
KC: Zack Greinke

Batting average: Austin Meadows -- .471

Hits: Austin Meadows -- 8

Home runs: Five tied -- 1

RBI: Javy Baez -- 4

Wins: Two tied -- 1

Saves: Gregory Soto -- 1

ERA: Matt Manning -- 1.50

Batting average: Andrew Benintendi -- .412

Hits: Andrew Benintendi -- 7

Home runs: Salvador Perez -- 2

RBI: Andrew Benintendi -- 4

Wins: Two tied -- 1

Saves: N/A

ERA: Brad Keller -- 0.00