The Kansas City Royals enter this game having lost three of their last five games and are coming off a 1-2 series loss on the road against the Detroit Tigers which ended with a 4-9 loss in game three of the series on Wednesday.Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays enter this game having lost three of their last five games and are coming off a 1-1 series split at home against the Baltimore Orioles which ended with Wednesdays 7-2 win in game two of the series which also ended their three-game losing streak.BookMaker has the Tampa Bay Rays listed as -230 money line favorites at home against the Kansas City Royals and has set the total for the over/under plays at 7.5 runs. Which team will come away with the win in game one of the series on Thursday? Lets take a deeper dive into how these teams are performing this season.Kansas City Royals Team PreviewThe Kansas City Royals enter this game with an overall record of 20-54 which puts them in 5^th place in the AL Central and are coming off a 4-9 loss in game three of their series against the Detroit Tigers.Offensively, Kansas City scored four runs off 11 hits with two of the runs coming in the 2^nd inning when Maikel Garcia and Samad Taylor scored off a double hit by Freddy Fermin.The Royals will send Jose Cuas to the mound for game one of the series against the Rays on Thursday. Cuas is 3-0 this season with a 4.15 ERA while recording 39 strikeouts.Tampa Bay Rays Team PreviewThe Tampa Bay Rays enter this game with an overall record of 52-25 which puts them in 1^st place in the AL East and are coming off a 7-2 win against the Baltimore Orioles in game two of their series.Offensively, the Rays scored seven runs off ten hits with four of the runs coming in the 2^nd inning which included one-run home runs hit by Randy Arozarena and Isaac Paredes.Shane McClanahan will take the mound for Tampa Bay against Kansas City on Thursday for game one of the series. McClanahan is 11-1 on the year with an ERA of 2.12 and has recorded 97 strikeouts.Series Trends and Game PickTampa Bay has won six of the last ten games in the series and has won by an average score of 3.9 to 2.6 in those matchups. The Rays have won two of the last three games in the series and have won by an average score of 3.33 to 2.33 in those contests.The under is 6-3-1 in the last ten games in the series with the teams combining for an average of 6.5 runs per game in those contests. The under is 2-0-1 in the last three games in the series with the teams combining for an average of 5.67 runs per game in those matchups.Shane McClanahan enters this game with the best ERA in the major league with an ERA of 2.12 while Kansas City is averaging 3.73 runs per game this season. The under has been the trend in the series, going 6-3-1 in the last ten and 2-0-1 in the last three games. As a result, I am taking the under 7.5 runs on BookMaker for this matchup on Thursday evening.Spooky Express Pick: Under 7.5 Runs