Tigers/Royals OVER 9 +111 (Scherzer/Paulino) – 8:10 pm ET #977-978

Not an official play, but I would rate the Over as a light lean tonight.

Two of the hotter teams in baseball take the field in Kansas City when the Royals host the Tigers. Kansas City has won eight of their last nine games, doing so with offense for the most part. They've scored 5 runs or more in six straight games and they’ve pounded out double digit hits in seven straight games. Charged with slowing them down is Max Scherzer who hasn't done so in both of his outings against them in August. Scherzer allowed 11 runs and 16 hits in just eight innings of work in both of those meetings. He's 7-5 with a 5.33 ERA in 14 road outings with eight of those games going Over the total. Melky Cabrera (3-11), Jeff Francoeur (5-18), Chris Getz (3-9), Johnny Giavotella (4-5), Alex Gordon (4-10), Eric Hosmer (3-6), Mitch Maier (5-9) and Brayan Pena (2-4) all feast on the Tigers’ starter. Kansas City is hitting almost .370 in their last eight games and they’ve gone Over the total in six straight games.

Felipe Paulino is not in good form right now either. He has allowed 11 runs and 13 hits in his last 17.3 innings of work. Overall, the righty is 3-6 with a 4.28 ERA in 18 starts. He allowed 3 runs and six hits in almost seven innings pitched to the Tigers in August. Detroit's offense is hitting right around .275 in their last eight games and they are putting up nearly 5 runs per game over that span. They are hitting .295 against the rest of the A.L. Central and they are looking to enter the playoffs on a roll. Kansas City's bullpen has 24 losses and 19 blown saves so they are susceptible to blowing leads. These two offenses are in such good form that we expect a slugfest between the Tigers and Royals tonight.