This is a 6* SITUATIONAL PITCHING MISMATCH on the Kansas City Royals.

The visitors hand the ball to Erik Johnson (1-1, 6.46 ERA) who makes his season debut after a great stint at Triple-A Charlotte where he went 11-8 with a 2.37 ERA. While Chicago has big hopes for Johnson in the future, clearly this is a tough first matchup and one in which we expect the hard-hitting home side to take advantage of. The Royals counter with Johnny Cueto (9-10, 3.04 ERA) who is coming off another sub-par outing in which he gave up four runs off nine hits over six innings in a setback to the Tigers on Tuesday. So far Cueto has not lived up to his "ace" moniker, but we believe the hard-throwing right-hander bounces back here, note that he's 5-3 with a highly respectable 2.43 ERA in friendly confines this season. Cueto is just too good to be kept down for too long, this is a game the veteran needs to win and that's exactly what we expect to happen, lay the price with confidence on the ROYALS.

AAA Sports