Rays vs. Royals prediction and odds for Friday, July 14

The Royals start the second half of the season with stiff competition as the Rays come to town in hopes of improving its standing as the best team in the American League.

Kansas City will face Tyler Glasnow, who has been pitching well as he recovers from Tommy John surgery, but has been crushed by hard contact with an alarmingly high home run rate. The Royals will hope that Alec Marsh can limit the Rays explosive bats despite poor returns early in his pro career.

Here's our betting insights as the Royals get ready for the start of the second half of the season.

Rays vs. Royals odds, run line and total

Rays vs. Royals prediction and pick

Glasnow has not pitched too far into games just yet as the Rays still stretch him out for the postseason, but he has been fairly effective, pitching to a 4.10 ERA. He has made eight starts this season, averaging about five innings per start, but has been elite at striking batters out, punching out over 13 batters per nine innings.

However, Glasnow has been rocked by hard contact, allowing a home run on 20% of fly balls. If the Royals are able to limit strikeouts and put the barrel on the ball, the team could be in line for extra base hits and runs.

However, this will be a tough go for the rookie Marsh, who is making his third big league start after struggling early on. The Rays are top 10 in slugging percentage and Marsh has allowed three home runs in two starts already.

Marsh hasn't been able to punch out enough batters to justify that he's a big league level pitcher yet, striking out 10 batters to seven walks through two starts.

I can't trust Glasnow at this price given his inability to limit power just yet, but I'd prefer the over to taking the Royals as underdogs.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.