Kansas City Royals (35-53, fifth in the AL Central) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (47-42, fourth in the AL East)
Toronto; Thursday, 7:07 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: TBD; Blue Jays: Kevin Gausman (6-6, 2.86 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 100 strikeouts)
BOTTOM LINE: The Toronto Blue Jays host the Kansas City Royals on Thursday to open a four-game series.
Toronto has a 47-42 record overall and a 27-18 record in home games. The Blue Jays have the fourth-best team slugging percentage in MLB play at .433.
Kansas City is 35-53 overall and 16-26 in road games. The Royals are 26-10 in games when they have more hits than their opponents.
The matchup Thursday is the fourth time these teams meet this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leads the Blue Jays with 20 home runs while slugging .488. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is 14-for-36 with three doubles and two RBI over the last 10 games.
Bobby Witt Jr. has 18 doubles, five triples and 12 home runs while hitting .248 for the Royals. Whit Merrifield is 6-for-22 with a triple and two home runs over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Blue Jays: 3-7, .276 batting average, 3.77 ERA, outscored by 12 runs
Royals: 6-4, .270 batting average, 4.40 ERA, outscored by two runs
INJURIES: Blue Jays: Yusei Kikuchi: 15-Day IL (neck), Julian Merryweather: 60-Day IL (side), Kevin Gausman: day-to-day (ankle), Tayler Saucedo: 60-Day IL (hip), Hyun-Jin Ryu: 60-Day IL (forearm), Andrew Vasquez: 15-Day IL (ankle), Nate Pearson: 60-Day IL (mono)
Royals: Michael A. Taylor: day-to-day (shoulder), Daniel Lynch: day-to-day (blister), Whit Merrifield: day-to-day (toe), Jon Heasley: 15-Day IL (shoudler), Josh Staumont: 15-Day IL (neck), Salvador Perez: 10-Day IL (thumb), Jake Brentz: 60-Day IL (flexor), Adalberto Mondesi: 60-Day IL (knee), Tyler Zuber: 60-Day IL (shoulder)
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
