Royals aim to stop road skid, face the Tigers

Kansas City Royals (8-12, third in the AL Central) vs. Detroit Tigers (11-8, first in the AL Central)

Detroit; Friday, 6:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Cole Ragans (1-0, 2.28 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 34 strikeouts); Tigers: Jackson Jobe (1-0, 3.00 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, nine strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Royals -140, Tigers +118; over/under is 7 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Kansas City Royals travel to the Detroit Tigers looking to end a four-game road slide.

Detroit has gone 6-1 at home and 11-8 overall. The Tigers have the fourth-best team ERA in MLB play at 3.38.

Kansas City is 2-8 in road games and 8-12 overall. The Royals are 6-0 in games when they record eight or more hits.

The matchup Friday is the second time these teams meet this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Zach McKinstry has two triples and a home run for the Tigers. Spencer Torkelson is 9-for-36 with two doubles and four home runs over the past 10 games.

Bobby Witt Jr. leads the Royals with a .307 batting average, and has eight doubles, two home runs, nine walks and eight RBI. Kyle Isbel is 9-for-30 with a home run and three RBI over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Tigers: 6-4, .218 batting average, 2.59 ERA, outscored opponents by 13 runs

Royals: 3-7, .170 batting average, 3.86 ERA, outscored by 21 runs

INJURIES: Tigers: Wenceel Perez: 60-Day IL (spine), Jake Rogers: 10-Day IL (oblique), Manuel Margot: 10-Day IL (knee), Ty Madden: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Alexander Miller Cobb: 15-Day IL (hip), Matt Vierling: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Parker Meadows: 60-Day IL (nerve), Jose Urquidy: 60-Day IL (elbow), Sawyer Gipson-Long: 60-Day IL (hip), Alex Lange: 60-Day IL (lat)

Royals: Hunter Harvey: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Sam Long: 15-Day IL (elbow), Jonathan India: day-to-day (quadricep), Mark David Canha: 10-Day IL (hip), Dairon Blanco: 10-Day IL (achilles), Kyle Wright: 15-Day IL (shoulder), James McArthur: 15-Day IL (elbow), Alec Marsh: 15-Day IL (shoulder)

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