Witt leads Royals against the Red Sox after 4-hit outing

Boston Red Sox (20-19, second in the AL East) vs. Kansas City Royals (23-16, third in the AL Central)

Kansas City, Missouri; Friday, 7:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Red Sox: Hunter Dobbins (2-1, 3.78 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 13 strikeouts); Royals: Michael Lorenzen (3-3, 4.23 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 33 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Red Sox -117, Royals -102; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Kansas City Royals take on the Boston Red Sox after Bobby Witt Jr. had four hits on Thursday in a 10-0 win over the White Sox.

Kansas City has a 23-16 record overall and a 15-5 record in home games. The Royals have gone 3-0 in games when they hit two or more home runs.

Boston is 20-19 overall and 9-10 on the road. The Red Sox have a 4-9 record in games decided by one run.

The matchup Friday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams.

TOP PERFORMERS: Witt has 16 doubles, five home runs and 23 RBIs for the Royals. Vinnie Pasquantino is 13 for 43 with two doubles, three home runs and seven RBIs over the past 10 games.

Alexander Bregman has 15 doubles and nine home runs for the Red Sox. Rafael Devers is 15 for 40 with three doubles and three home runs over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Royals: 9-1, .300 batting average, 1.52 ERA, outscored opponents by 32 runs

Red Sox: 5-5, .281 batting average, 3.43 ERA, outscored opponents by 20 runs

INJURIES: Royals: Alec Marsh: 60-Day IL (shoulder), James McArthur: 60-Day IL (elbow), Hunter Harvey: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Sam Long: 15-Day IL (elbow), Dairon Blanco: 10-Day IL (achilles), Kyle Wright: 15-Day IL (shoulder)

Red Sox: Romy Gonzalez: day-to-day (back), Triston Casas: 10-Day IL (knee), Walker Buehler: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Richard Fitts: 15-Day IL (pectoral), Zach Penrod: 60-Day IL (elbow), Masataka Yoshida: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Kutter Crawford: 15-Day IL (knee), Chris Murphy: 60-Day IL (elbow), Patrick Sandoval: 60-Day IL (elbow)

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