Royals visit Minnesota, aim to build on Duffy's strong showing

Kansas City Royals (16-9, first in the AL Central) vs. Minnesota Twins (9-16, fourth in the AL Central)

Minneapolis; Sunday, 2:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Brad Keller (2-2, 9.00 ERA, 2.28 WHIP, 13 strikeouts) Twins: Jose Berrios (2-2, 3.04 ERA, .98 WHIP, 33 strikeouts)

LINE: Twins -190, Royals +165; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Kansas City heads into the matchup fresh off a strong showing by Danny Duffy. Duffy pitched seven innings, giving up one run on two hits with seven strikeouts against Minnesota.

The Twins are 4-4 against AL Central opponents. Minnesota has slugged .409, good for third in the American League. Byron Buxton leads the club with a .859 slugging percentage, including 16 extra-base hits and eight home runs.

The Royals are 7-3 against teams from the AL Central. Kansas City has slugged .399 this season. Salvador Perez leads the team with a .530 slugging percentage, including 13 extra-base hits and six home runs.

The Royals won the last meeting 11-3. Danny Duffy earned his fourth victory and Andrew Benintendi went 3-for-4 with two home runs and two RBIs for Kansas City. Matt Shoemaker registered his third loss for Minnesota.

TOP PERFORMERS: Buxton leads the Twins with eight home runs and is batting .408.

Carlos Santana leads the Royals with 21 RBIs and is batting .258.

LAST 10 GAMES: Twins: 3-7, .219 batting average, 4.67 ERA, outscored by five runs

Royals: 7-3, .235 batting average, 4.71 ERA, outscored opponents by six runs

INJURIES: Twins: Edwar Colina: (right elbow), Miguel Sano: (hamstring).

Royals: Kyle Zimmer: (left trap), Brady Singer: (foot), Jesse Hahn: (right shoulder), Adalberto Mondesi: (right oblique strain).

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