Kansas City takes 6-game skid into matchup with Boston

Kansas City Royals (33-44, fifth in the AL Central) vs. Boston Red Sox (48-31, first in the AL East)

Boston; Tuesday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Brad Keller (6-8, 6.40 ERA, 1.79 WHIP, 67 strikeouts) Red Sox: Nick Pivetta (6-3, 4.00 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 94 strikeouts)

LINE: Red Sox -187, Royals +163; over/under is 10 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Kansas City enters the matchup as losers of their last six games.

The Red Sox are 24-17 in home games in 2020. The Boston offense has compiled a .258 batting average as a team this season, good for third in the MLB. Xander Bogaerts leads the team with an average of .329.

The Royals have gone 15-25 away from home. Kansas City has slugged .386 this season. Salvador Perez leads the team with a .503 slugging percentage, including 33 extra-base hits and 18 home runs.

The Red Sox won the last meeting 6-5. Hirokazu Sawamura secured his fourth victory and Hunter Renfroe went 2-for-4 with two home runs and three RBIs for Boston. Josh Staumont took his second loss for Kansas City.

TOP PERFORMERS: Bogaerts leads the Red Sox with 91 hits and has 46 RBIs.

Perez leads the Royals with 33 extra base hits and is batting .273.

LAST 10 GAMES: Red Sox: 6-4, .269 batting average, 3.15 ERA, outscored opponents by nine runs

Royals: 3-7, .249 batting average, 6.08 ERA, outscored by 24 runs

INJURIES: Red Sox: Chris Sale: (elbow), Ryan Brasier: (left calf), Christian Arroyo: (knee), Kevin Plawecki: (hamstring).

Royals: Daniel Tillo: (undisclosed), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Ronald Bolanos: (flexor), Andrew Benintendi: (rib), Adalberto Mondesi: (oblique), Cam Gallagher: (shoulder).

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