KANSAS CITY -- Following Lonnie Chisenhall's record night and taking three of four in Texas, the Indians go back into division play with a two-game series against the Royals.
The Tribe took three of four from Kansas City at Progressive Field in April but have gone 8-11 at Kaufman Stadium the past two years. The Royals are 3-2 on their current homestand after having Monday's game against the Yankees rained out.
Indians Live will have more on Chisenhall. On Monday night, he became the first player in MLB history to have five hits, three home runs and nine RBI in five plate appearances. Chisenhall is hitting .385 for the season and leads the majors in batting average for players with over 150 plate appearances. Since May 14, he is hitting .441 (37 of 84) with seven doubles, seven home runs and 29 RBI in 24 games.
Against Kansas City starter Jason Vargas, Chisenhall has not faced him mainly because he's a left hander. But against lefties this season, Chisenhall is 13 of 25.
Indians Live will also have the first of a two-part series on infield shifts and what hitters think of it.
Here are other storylines to follow for tonight's game:
Division matters: The Indians are within two games of Detroit after the Tigers lost to the White Sox Monday night. Cleveland is 14-12 in division games. The Tribe was swept at Chicago which snapped a six-game winning streak. Kansas City is 6-15 against the division.
Ace Kluber: Corey Kluber threw a complete game the last time he faced the Royals. In the April 24 game, the right-hander allowed just one unearned run while striking out 11. The right-hander is 4-0 in his last seven starts but his streak of going 6 2/3 innings ended at six in his last outing as he went 6 1/3 last Wednesday against Boston. Kluber allowed four runs on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Kluber is third in the AL in strikeouts with 99 but Kansas City's Salvador Perez and Nori Aoki rank in the AL's top 10 among hardest to strike out.
Hot offense: The Indians have collected 10-plus hits in six straight games, which is their longest streak since April 28-May 4 last season (six games). Cleveland is 21-6 when collecting double-digit hits.
Also streaking: Besides Chisenhall's seven-game hit streak, Jason Kipnis is 12 of 42 since coming off the disabled list and has also hit safely in his last seven games. David Murphy went 6 of 15 during the Rangers series.
Better late than never: Jason Vargas' start was pushed back a day due to the rainout. The left-hander is 3-2 in his past seven starts and had a no-decision when he faced the Indians on April 23. Vargas has held hitters batting cleanup to a .219 average (7 of 32) with one-extra base hit, and no RBI. He joins Oakland's Tommy Milone and Yu Darvish of the Rangers as the only MLB pitchers with at least 30 opponent at-bats from the cleanup spot and no RBI allowed.
Hot Gordon: Kansas City's Alex Gordon is hitting .357 (10 for 28) with seven of those hits being for extra bases. He has the highest on-base pct. (.468) in MLB since May 8 (30 games. Gordon is 4 of 21 lifetime against Kluber.
Other Royals of note: Alcides Escobar has an eight-game hit streak and is batting .407 (11 of 27) during that stretch. ... Lorenzo Cain has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games and has an extra-base hit in three straight games, matching the longest such streak of his career.
