Kansas City Royals (33-19, second in the AL Central) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (25-27, fourth in the AL East)
St. Petersburg, Florida; Saturday, 4:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Brady Singer (4-2, 2.70 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 61 strikeouts); Rays: Aaron Civale (2-4, 5.92 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 52 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Rays -120, Royals +100; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Rays come into a matchup against the Kansas City Royals as losers of five in a row.
Tampa Bay is 25-27 overall and 14-16 in home games. Rays hitters are batting a collective .237, which ranks ninth in the AL.
Kansas City is 12-11 on the road and 33-19 overall. Royals hitters are batting a collective .252, the seventh-best team batting average in MLB play.
The teams match up Saturday for the second time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jose Caballero has eight doubles, a triple and two home runs for the Rays. Josh Lowe is 8-for-37 with three doubles and two home runs over the past 10 games.
Bobby Witt Jr. has eight home runs, 18 walks and 34 RBI while hitting .305 for the Royals. Maikel Garcia is 16-for-44 with three doubles, two triples, a home run and eight RBI over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 4-6, .204 batting average, 4.65 ERA, outscored by 17 runs
Royals: 8-2, .288 batting average, 3.07 ERA, outscored opponents by 30 runs
INJURIES: Rays: Josh Lowe: day-to-day (side), Zach Eflin: 15-Day IL (back), Jacob Waguespack: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Chris Devenski: 15-Day IL (knee), Colin Poche: 15-Day IL (back), Taylor Walls: 60-Day IL (hip), Jeffrey Springs: 60-Day IL (elbow), Drew Rasmussen: 60-Day IL (elbow), Shane McClanahan: 60-Day IL (forearm)
Royals: Michael Massey: day-to-day (back), Josh Taylor: 60-Day IL (biceps), Kris Bubic: 60-Day IL (elbow), Kyle Wright: 60-Day IL (shoulder)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
