Kansas City visits Oakland, aims to build on Minor's strong showing

Kansas City Royals (30-31, third in the AL Central) vs. Oakland Athletics (37-27, first in the AL West)

Oakland, California; Friday, 9:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Brady Singer (3-5, 4.88 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 62 strikeouts) Athletics: Cole Irvin (4-7, 3.89 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 50 strikeouts)

LINE: Athletics -143, Royals +124; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Kansas City heads into the matchup after a strong showing by Mike Minor. Minor pitched seven innings, surrendering one run on three hits with eight strikeouts against Oakland.

The Athletics are 19-18 in home games in 2020. Oakland has hit 78 home runs this season, eighth in the American League. Matt Olson leads them with 15, averaging one every 13.7 at-bats.

The Royals are 14-16 in road games. Kansas City has hit 59 home runs this season, the lowest total in the American League. Salvador Perez leads the club with 14, averaging one every 17 at-bats.

The Royals won the last meeting 6-1. Mike Minor notched his fifth victory and Jorge Soler went 1-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs for Kansas City. Frankie Montas registered his sixth loss for Oakland.

TOP PERFORMERS: Olson leads the Athletics with 15 home runs and has 41 RBIs.

Perez leads the Royals with 14 home runs and is batting .277.

LAST 10 GAMES: Athletics: 6-4, .249 batting average, 3.21 ERA, outscored opponents by 16 runs

Royals: 5-5, .265 batting average, 4.76 ERA, outscored opponents by five runs

INJURIES: Athletics: J.B. Wendelken: (left oblique), Trevor Rosenthal: (chest), A.J. Puk: (left biceps), Reymin Guduan: (groin), Mike Fiers: (right elbow), Ramon Laureano: (hip).

Royals: Daniel Tillo: (undisclosed), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Danny Duffy: (forearm), Adalberto Mondesi: (hamstring).

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