First pitch: Saturday, 9:05 p.m. ET
Line: Los Angeles -150, Kansas City +140, Total: 7.5

The Kansas City Royals and the Los Angles Angels play the second of three games when they matchup on Saturday night.

The Royals have been able to piggy back on their success from last season, when they made the playoffs for the first time since 1985 and brought the World Series to seven games against the Giants, as they’ve started 4-0, dominating in the opening series against the White Sox in a sweep as the outscored them 21-7. They continued the solid play when they went to L.A. to start a three-game set against the Angels and came away with a nice 4-2 victory. They had nine hits in the contest, but were a mere 2-for-10 with RISP as they had at least one hit from each of the first five batters in the lineup. OF Lorenzo Cain (.438) has been one of the hottest hitters of the group and has at least one hit in each game thus far with two doubles, a homer and six RBIs. The Angels have split the first four games of their season and have done a great job pitching, allowing a mere 11 runs in the contests. They were able to win the first series of the year against the Mariners after a 5-3 win in the rubber match, but couldn’t keep the momentum going against Kansas City on Friday when they were 0-for-3 with RISP and had seven hits. OF Mike Trout (.357) continues to be a force and has a hit in each game with two RBI. The Royals win on Friday brought their record against Los Angeles to 9-8 since the start of the 2013 campaign and are a solid 6-3 when playing on the road in that time. They’ve won the last five meetings with this opponent dating back to last year, outscoring them 24-12. Some trends to consider in this one include that Kansas City is 53-36 (.596) when on the road since the start of last year as the Angels are 94-38 (.712) in home games where Weaver is starting in his career. The only player from either team that is dealing with an injury to a position player is Los Angeles as OF Josh Hamilton (Shoulder) continues to ride the pine.

Despite Guthrie not being one of the best arms in the game, he is consistent and has been a huge piece of the improving Royals over the past two seasons. He’s had double-digit wins in each of the past two years despite an ERA over 4.00 in the past four years and has not struck out more than 5.66 batters per nine innings since 2007. The one thing that can be guaranteed is that he will give you a ton of innings and he has put up 200+ innings in five of the last six seasons. Guthrie really hasn’t had much different results when facing this team and over 12 starts and has gone 3-5 (5-7 team record) with a 4.14 ERA (1.05 WHIP) as he’s struck out just nine batters in his last five starts (36 IP). The Angels will miss OF Josh Hamilton (10-for-31, 4 HR, 5 RBI, 9 K) who has been amazing against Guthrie, but they can depend on OF Matt Joyce to do well as he is 14-for-34 (.412) with three doubles, one triple, two homers, seven RBIs and five walks. On the other hand, SS Erick Aybar (6-for-31, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 K) has not had much success against the veteran. Part of the reason that Kansas was so phenomenal last year was its bullpen and they have continued to be successful this year, not allowing a run in 15 IP (0.64 WHIP) as they are 3-for-4 in save opportunities. Closer Greg Holland (0.00 ERA, 2 saves) has been perfect in his first two outings with two strikeouts and two saves.

Weaver is one of the best pitchers ever for this franchise with a 131-70 record since 2006, but his numbers have been trending downwards over the past four seasons. In 2011, he had a 2.41 ERA and earned a record of 18-8, since then his ERA has risen in each successive season and was at 3.59 last year. That still helped him to getting 18 wins, but it is worrisome as he also dealt with 1.14 HR/9; his highest mark of his career. In his first start of this year he didn’t do well with four runs on eight hits allowed as he struck out just one batter in a loss to Seattle. Weaver has been dominant when facing the Royals over his career, compiling a 7-4 record (8-5 team record) with a 2.24 ERA (1.08 WHIP) and has a 24:4 K/BB ratio in his last three outings (20 IP). DH Kendrys Morales has done well against Weaver, going 7-for-11 with a solo homer. Not many on the team have had success against him, though, with OF Alex Rios (6-for-31, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 9 K), OF Alex Gordon (4-for-20, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 9 K) and 1B Eric Hosmer (0-for-4) doing poorly. The bullpen for Los Angeles has been tremendous so far, posting a 0.93 ERA (1.14 WHIP) in 9.2 IP as they’ve saved both save attempts. Closer Huston Street (0.00 ERA, 2 saves) has not allowed a hit or walk in his first two saves chances and is 19-for-21 (90%) since joining his new club last year.