Kansas City Royals

Struggling Royals look to end 4-game skid against Twins

Published Sep. 21, 2019 3:22 a.m. ET

Kansas City Royals (56-99, fourth in the AL Central) vs. Minnesota Twins (95-59, first in the AL Central)

Minneapolis; Saturday, 7 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Glenn Sparkman (4-11, 6.02 ERA) Twins: Jose Berrios (13-8, 3.58 ERA)

LINE: Twins -325; over/under is 10 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Kansas City enters the game as losers of their last four games.

The Twins are 44-24 against opponents from the AL Central. Minnesota has slugged .494, good for second in the American League. Nelson Cruz leads the club with a .626 slugging percentage, including 63 extra-base hits and 39 home runs.

The Royals have gone 29-42 against division opponents. Kansas City has a collective .245 this season, led by Whit Merrifield with an average of .301. The Twins won the last meeting 4-3. Randy Dobnak recorded his first victory and Miguel Sano went 1-for-3 with a triple and an RBI for Minnesota. Eric Skoglund registered his second loss for Kansas City.

TOP PERFORMERS: Max Kepler leads the Twins with 68 extra base hits and is batting .252. Luis Arraez has 13 hits and is batting .371 over the last 10 games for Minnesota.

Jorge Soler leads the Royals with 45 home runs home runs and is slugging .551. Ryan McBroom has 10 hits and is batting .313 over the last 10 games for Kansas City.

LAST 10 GAMES: Twins: 6-4, .261 batting average, 4.50 ERA, outscored by one run

Royals: 3-7, .241 batting average, 5.08 ERA, outscored by 17 runs

Twins Injuries: Sean Poppen: (elbow), Sam Dyson: (biceps), Byron Buxton: (shoulder), Ehire Adrianza: (oblique).

Royals Injuries: Trevor Oaks: (hip), Jakob Junis: (undisclosed), Kelvin Gutierrez: (toe), Salvador Perez: (elbow).