Pirates vs. Royals Betting Odds, Pitching Matchup – September 15, 2024

The Kansas City Royals (81-67) serve as underdogs on the moneyline (-104) in Sunday’s contest against the Pittsburgh Pirates (70-77). First pitch is at 1:35 p.m. ET on BSKC. The Royals are favored against the spread in this one (1.5) with +165 odds. Pittsburgh’s Jared Jones gets the start, and he’ll go against Kansas City’s Brady Singer.

Take a look at our betting preview for this game, and find all of our MLB picks, too!

Pirates vs. Royals Betting Lines

• Favorite: Pirates (-115)
• Underdog: Royals (-104)
• Over/under: 8

Pirates vs. Royals Betting Insights

• The Pirates have won in 33, or 56.9%, of the 58 contests they have been named as odds-on favorites in this year.
• This season Pittsburgh has come away with a win 30 times in 52 chances when named as a favorite of at least -115 on the moneyline.
• The Pirates have an implied victory probability of 53.5% according to the moneyline set by sportsbooks for this matchup.
• The Royals have been the moneyline underdog 76 total times this season. They’ve finished 34-42 in those games.
• In games it has played as a moneyline underdog with odds of -104 or longer, Kansas City has gone 28-39 (41.8%).
• The implied moneyline probablility in this matchup gives the Royals a 51% chance to win.

Pirates vs. Royals Hitting Leaders

• Bryan Reynolds is batting .281 with 22 home runs and 84 RBI. All three of those stats rank first among Pittsburgh hitters this season.
• Among all MLB batters, Reynolds is 22nd in batting average, 29th in on-base percentage, and 43rd in slugging.
• Oneil Cruz is batting .267 with an OBP of .325 and a slugging percentage of .461 this season.
• Bobby Witt Jr. paces the Royals with 30 home runs and has put up a team-best batting average of .332.
• Among all batters in the majors, Witt is 14th in homers and ninth in RBI.
• Salvador Perez has put up 102 runs batted in to lead his team.

Pirates vs. Royals Pitching Rankings

• The Pirates average the 18th-most strikeouts per nine innings (8.5) in the league this season.
• The Pirates have pitched to a 4.14 ERA this season, which ranks 18th in baseball.
• The Pirates rank 23rd in MLB with a combined 1.313 WHIP this season.
• The 8.3 strikeouts per nine innings put together by the Royals pitching staff ranks 22nd in the majors.
• Kansas City has the 10th-ranked team ERA across all MLB pitching staffs (3.87).
• The Royals average MLB’s 16th-ranked WHIP (1.255).