Guardians try to end 6-game road skid, play the Royals

Sat, Jul 9, 2022
MLB News (AP)

Cleveland Guardians (40-41, second in the AL Central) vs. Kansas City Royals (31-51, fifth in the AL Central)

Kansas City, Missouri; Saturday, 4:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Guardians: Triston McKenzie (5-6, 3.71 ERA, .99 WHIP, 80 strikeouts); Royals: Jonathan Heasley (1-4, 4.76 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 38 strikeouts)

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Guardians -128, Royals +109; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Cleveland Guardians hit the road against the Kansas City Royals looking to stop a six-game road losing streak.

Kansas City is 31-51 overall and 15-25 in home games. The Royals are 18-11 in games when they scored at least five runs.

Cleveland has a 40-41 record overall and a 20-24 record on the road. Guardians hitters are batting a collective .243, which ranks fifth in the AL.

The teams square off Saturday for the ninth time this season. The Guardians are up 5-3 in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: Andrew Benintendi has a .318 batting average to rank eighth on the Royals, and has 13 doubles, two triples and three home runs. Whit Merrifield is 12-for-39 with two home runs and four RBI over the past 10 games.

Jose Ramirez has 28 doubles, four triples and 16 home runs for the Guardians. Steven Kwan is 9-for-37 with two doubles and three RBI over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Royals: 5-5, .264 batting average, 4.66 ERA, outscored by two runs

Guardians: 3-7, .211 batting average, 5.44 ERA, outscored by 28 runs

INJURIES: Royals: Josh Staumont: 15-Day IL (neck), Daniel Lynch: 15-Day IL (blister), Salvador Perez: 10-Day IL (thumb), Jake Brentz: 60-Day IL (flexor), Adalberto Mondesi: 60-Day IL (knee), Tyler Zuber: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

Guardians: Josh Naylor: day-to-day (back), Anthony Gose: 15-Day IL (tricep), Oscar Gonzalez: 10-Day IL (ribs), Carlos Vargas: 60-Day IL (elbow), Cody Morris: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.