Kansas City Royals (47-60, fourth in the AL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (53-55, third in the NL Central)
St. Louis; Friday, 8:15 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Mike Minor (8-9, 5.31 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 121 strikeouts) Cardinals: Kwang Hyun Kim (6-6, 3.31 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 67 strikeouts)
LINE: Cardinals -157, Royals +137; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Salvador Perez and the Royals will take on the Cardinals Friday.
The Cardinals are 30-24 on their home turf. St. Louis has hit 117 home runs as a team this season. Nolan Arenado leads them with 21, averaging one every 19.1 at-bats.
The Royals are 19-35 on the road. Kansas City hitters have posted a team on-base percentage of .301 this season, led by Nicky Lopez with a mark of .353.
TOP PERFORMERS: Arenado leads the Cardinals with 66 RBIs and is batting .264.
Salvador Perez leads the Royals with 45 extra base hits and 68 RBIs.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 4-6, .250 batting average, 5.22 ERA, outscored by 12 runs
Royals: 5-5, .206 batting average, 3.62 ERA, outscored by two runs
INJURIES: Cardinals: Daniel Ponce de Leon: (shoulder), Miles Mikolas: (forearm), Carlos Martinez: (thumb), Dakota Hudson: (elbow), Jordan Hicks: (elbow), Jack Flaherty: (oblique), Max Moroff: (shoulder).
Royals: Kyle Zimmer: (neck/trap), Daniel Tillo: (undisclosed), Brady Singer: (shoulder), Brad Keller: (back), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Ronald Bolanos: (flexor), Andrew Benintendi: (shoulder), Adalberto Mondesi: (oblique).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
