Houston Astros (70-48, first in the AL West) vs. Kansas City Royals (50-67, fifth in the AL Central)
Kansas City, Missouri; Tuesday, 8:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Astros: Framber Valdez (8-3, 3.10 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 81 strikeouts) Royals: Daniel Lynch (2-3, 6.00 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 23 strikeouts)
LINE: Royals +169, Astros -199; over/under is 9 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Kansas City and Houston will square off on Tuesday.
The Royals are 30-30 in home games in 2020. Kansas City has hit 117 home runs as a team this season. Salvador Perez leads the team with 30, averaging one every 15 at-bats.
The Astros have gone 33-25 away from home. Houston is hitting a collective .266 this season, led by Michael Brantley with an average of .332.
The Royals won the last meeting 7-6. Scott Barlow earned his fifth victory and Nicky Lopez went 1-for-3 for Kansas City. Yimi Garcia took his eighth loss for Houston.
TOP PERFORMERS: Perez leads the Royals with 30 home runs and is slugging .519.
Yordan Alvarez leads the Astros with 46 extra base hits and is batting .289.
LAST 10 GAMES: Royals: 3-7, .251 batting average, 5.40 ERA, outscored by 20 runs
Astros: 5-5, .269 batting average, 2.90 ERA, outscored opponents by 14 runs
INJURIES: Royals: Kyle Zimmer: (neck/trap), Greg Holland: (shoulder), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Ronald Bolanos: (flexor), Adalberto Mondesi: (oblique).
Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Jose Urquidy: (arm), Andre Scrubb: (shoulder), Enoli Paredes: (shoulder), Rafael Montero: (shoulder), Tyler Ivey: (undisclosed), Kent Emanuel: (elbow), Kyle Tucker: (covid-19), Alex Bregman: (hamstring).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
