Kansas City Royals (17-21, third in the AL Central) vs. Chicago White Sox (23-14, first in the AL Central)
Chicago; Saturday, 7:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Mike Minor (2-2, 5.75 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 37 strikeouts) White Sox: Carlos Rodon (5-0, .58 ERA, .68 WHIP, 44 strikeouts)
LINE: White Sox -195, Royals +167; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Chicago and Kansas City will meet on Saturday.
The White Sox are 14-7 against opponents from the AL Central. The Chicago offense has compiled a .260 batting average as a team this season, good for third in the MLB. Yermin Mercedes leads the team with an average of .365.
The Royals are 8-15 against division opponents. Kansas City is slugging .379 as a unit. Salvador Perez leads the team with a slugging percentage of .500.
The White Sox won the last meeting 3-1. Codi Heuer notched his third victory and Andrew Vaughn went 1-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs for Chicago. Jakob Junis took his third loss for Kansas City.
TOP PERFORMERS: Mercedes is second on the White Sox with 12 extra base hits and is slugging .565.
Perez leads the Royals with 17 extra base hits and is batting .280.
LAST 10 GAMES: White Sox: 8-2, .272 batting average, 2.30 ERA, outscored opponents by 36 runs
Royals: 1-9, .212 batting average, 5.34 ERA, outscored by 24 runs
INJURIES: White Sox: Jace Fry: (microdiscectomy), Jimmy Cordero: (tommy john surgery), Luis Robert: (hip), Eloy Jimenez: (left pectoral), Adam Engel: (right hamstring), Jose Abreu: (face/knee).
Royals: Kyle Zimmer: (left trap), Daniel Tillo: (undisclosed), Jesse Hahn: (right shoulder), Adalberto Mondesi: (right oblique strain), Hunter Dozier: (concussion).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
