Royals take 3-game slide into matchup with Red Sox
Boston Red Sox (30-29, third in the AL East) vs. Kansas City Royals (19-40, fifth in the AL Central)
Kansas City, Kansas; Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Red Sox: Eduardo Rodriguez (5-3, 5.04 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 66 strikeouts) Royals: Glenn Sparkman (1-1, 4.21 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 17 strikeouts)
BOTTOM LINE: Kansas City enters the matchup as losers of their last three games.
The Royals are 11-17 on their home turf. The Kansas City pitching staff as a whole has an ERA of 5.22. Brad Keller leads the team with a 4.50 ERA.
The Red Sox are 16-17 on the road. Boston has a team on-base percentage of .336, good for fourth in the American League. Xander Bogaerts leads the team with a mark of .386. This is the first game between these teams in 2019.
TOP PERFORMERS: Whit Merrifield leads the Royals with 73 hits and has 28 RBIs. Jorge Soler is 7-for-37 with a double, four home runs and nine RBIs over the last 10 games for Kansas City.
Bogaerts leads the Red Sox with 30 extra base hits and has 39 RBIs. Rafael Devers is 13-for-41 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs and six RBIs over the last 10 games for Boston.
LAST 10 GAMES: Royals: 2-8, .254 batting average, 5.17 ERA, outscored by 17 runs
Red Sox: 4-6, .287 batting average, 4.92 ERA, outscored opponents by five runs
Royals Injuries: Trevor Oaks: 60-day IL (hip), Jesse Hahn: 60-day IL (elbow), Lucas Duda: 10-day IL (lumbar strain), Hunter Dozier: 10-day IL (chest), Salvador Perez: 60-day IL (elbow), Martin Maldonado: day-to-day (arm).
Red Sox Injuries: Hector Velazquez: 10-day IL (back), Tyler Thornburg: 10-day IL (hip), Brian Johnson: 10-day IL (elbow), Nathan Eovaldi: 10-day IL (elbow), Dustin Pedroia: 60-day IL (knee), Steve Pearce: 10-day IL (back spasms), Mitch Moreland: 10-day IL (back), Tzu-Wei Lin: 10-day IL (knee).
