Kansas City takes 4-game slide into matchup with Tampa Bay
Kansas City Royals (7-16, fifth in the AL Central) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (15-8, first in the AL East)
St. Petersburg, Florida; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Homer Bailey (2-1, 4.30 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 27 strikeouts) Rays: Ryne Stanek (2-0, 1.46 ERA, .89 WHIP, 13 strikeouts)
BOTTOM LINE: Kansas City enters the matchup as losers of their last four games.
The Rays are 8-6 on their home turf. Tampa Bay's team on-base percentage of .337 is second in the American League. Tommy Pham leads the club with an OBP of .408.
The Royals are 2-9 in road games. The Kansas City pitching staff as a whole has an ERA of 5.43. Brad Keller leads the team with a 3.41 earned run average. The Rays won the last meeting 6-3. Wilmer Font secured his first victory and Mike Zunino went 1-for-2 with a home run and two RBIs for Tampa Bay. Keller took his second loss for Kansas City.
TOP PERFORMERS: Yandy Diaz leads the Rays with six home runs and has 11 RBIs. Austin Meadows is 18-for-40 with three doubles, a triple, four home runs and 13 RBIs over the last 10 games for Tampa Bay.
Hunter Dozier leads the Royals with seven home runs home runs and is slugging .676. Jorge Soler is 8-for-36 with three home runs and three RBIs over the last 10 games for Kansas City.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 5-5, .272 batting average, 3.97 ERA, outscored opponents by 13 runs
Royals: 4-6, .226 batting average, 5.00 ERA, outscored by 10 runs
Rays Injuries: Blake Snell: 10-day IL (toe), Jose De Leon: 60-day IL (elbow), Anthony Banda: 60-day IL (elbow), Austin Meadows: 10-day IL (right thumb sprain), Matt Duffy: 10-day IL (back), Ji-Man Choi: day-to-day (calf).
Royals Injuries: Trevor Oaks: 60-day IL (hip), Jesse Hahn: 60-day IL (elbow), Brian Flynn: 10-day IL (elbow), Danny Duffy: 10-day IL (shoulder), Hunter Dozier: day-to-day (back), Salvador Perez: 60-day IL (elbow).
