Twins host the Royals to begin 3-game series

Kansas City Royals (45-62, fifth in the AL Central) vs. Minnesota Twins (53-54, third in the AL Central)

Minneapolis; Tuesday, 7:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Seth Lugo (4-6, 4.36 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 94 strikeouts); Twins: Taj Bradley (9-4, 3.69 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 129 strikeouts)

LINE: Twins -164, Royals +134; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Minnesota Twins host the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday to begin a three-game series.

Minnesota is 28-26 at home and 53-54 overall. Twins hitters have a collective .408 slugging percentage to rank fourth in the AL.

Kansas City has a 19-35 record in road games and a 45-62 record overall. The Royals have gone 21-10 in games when they did not give up a home run.

Tuesday's game is the eighth time these teams meet this season. The Royals are up 5-2 in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: Byron Buxton has 16 doubles, a triple, 25 home runs and 45 RBIs while hitting .264 for the Twins. Trevor Larnach is 13 for 34 with three doubles and two home runs over the past 10 games.

Carter Jensen has 23 doubles and 14 home runs while hitting .240 for the Royals. Salvador Perez is 7 for 35 with a double and four home runs over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Twins: 5-5, .226 batting average, 5.16 ERA, outscored by 13 runs

Royals: 7-3, .242 batting average, 3.84 ERA, outscored by eight runs

INJURIES: Twins: Mike Paredes: 15-Day IL (oblique), Garrett Acton: 60-Day IL (shoulder), David Festa: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Mick Abel: 60-Day IL (elbow), Anthony Banda: 60-Day IL (lat), Pablo Lopez: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Royals: Carlos Estevez: 60-Day IL (foot), Kyle Isbel: 10-Day IL (foot), Stephen Kolek: 60-Day IL (flexor), Bobby Witt Jr.: 10-Day IL (back), Maikel Garcia: 10-Day IL (hand), Nick Mears: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Cole Ragans: 60-Day IL (elbow), Kris Bubic: 60-Day IL (elbow), Connor Seabold: 15-Day IL (lat), James McArthur: 60-Day IL (elbow), Jonathan India: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Alec Marsh: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

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