Boston Red Sox (42-28, second in the AL East) vs. Kansas City Royals (31-37, third in the AL Central)
Kansas City, Missouri; Saturday, 4:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Red Sox: Martin Perez (4-4, 4.52 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 54 strikeouts) Royals: Brad Keller (6-6, 6.14 ERA, 1.74 WHIP, 60 strikeouts)
BOTTOM LINE:
The Royals are 17-18 on their home turf. Kansas City has hit 68 home runs as a team this season. Salvador Perez leads the club with 18, averaging one every 14.7 at-bats.
The Red Sox are 22-11 on the road. Boston has slugged .439, good for third in the majors. Rafael Devers leads the team with a .574 slugging percentage, including 38 extra-base hits and 17 home runs.
The Royals won the last meeting 5-3. Kris Bubic earned his second victory and Adalberto Mondesi went 1-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs for Kansas City. Nick Pivetta registered his third loss for Boston.
TOP PERFORMERS: Perez leads the Royals with 18 home runs and is slugging .543.
Xander Bogaerts leads the Red Sox with 78 hits and is batting .321.
LAST 10 GAMES: Royals: 2-8, .241 batting average, 6.12 ERA, outscored by 27 runs
Red Sox: 5-5, .259 batting average, 6.98 ERA, outscored by 22 runs
INJURIES: Royals: Daniel Tillo: (undisclosed), Brady Singer: (shoulder), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Danny Duffy: (forearm), Ronald Bolanos: (flexor), Andrew Benintendi: (rib).
Red Sox: Chris Sale: (elbow), Ryan Brasier: (left calf).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
