Kansas City's Merrifield puts 10-game hit streak on the line against Rangers

Updated Jun. 25, 2021 3:20 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Kansas City Royals (33-40, third in the AL Central) vs. Texas Rangers (27-48, fifth in the AL West)

Arlington, Texas; Friday, 8:05 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Mike Minor (6-4, 4.48 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 92 strikeouts) Rangers: Dane Dunning (2-6, 4.71 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 71 strikeouts)

LINE: Rangers -107, Royals -109; over/under is 8 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Whit Merrifield and the Royals will take on the Rangers Friday.

The Rangers are 17-21 on their home turf. Texas's lineup has 84 home runs this season, Adolis Garcia leads the club with 20 homers.

The Royals are 15-21 on the road. Kansas City has a team on-base percentage of .307, led by Carlos Santana with a mark of .364.

The Rangers won the last meeting 7-3. Jordan Lyles secured his first victory and Isiah Kiner-Falefa went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs for Texas. Brady Singer took his first loss for Kansas City.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kiner-Falefa leads the Rangers with 84 hits and has 28 RBIs.

Whit Merrifield ranks second on the Royals with 79 hits and is batting .272.

LAST 10 GAMES: Rangers: 2-8, .236 batting average, 5.36 ERA, outscored by 18 runs

Royals: 3-7, .261 batting average, 5.87 ERA, outscored by 19 runs

INJURIES: Rangers: Hunter Wood: (elbow), Jose Leclerc: (elbow), Jonathan Hernandez: (elbow), Kyle Cody: (right shoulder), Matt Bush: (elbow), Kohei Arihara: (finger), David Dahl: (rib), Ronald Guzman: (knee), Sam Huff: (hamstring).

Royals: Daniel Tillo: (undisclosed), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Ronald Bolanos: (flexor), Andrew Benintendi: (rib), Adalberto Mondesi: (oblique), Salvador Perez: (undisclosed), Cam Gallagher: (shoulder).

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