Royals bring win streak into matchup with the Red Sox

Kansas City Royals (51-43, third in the AL Central) vs. Boston Red Sox (51-41, third in the AL East)

Boston; Friday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Cole Ragans (5-6, 3.28 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 134 strikeouts); Red Sox: Josh Winckowski (2-1, 3.27 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 33 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Royals -118, Red Sox -102; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Kansas City Royals seek to keep a three-game win streak intact when they take on the Boston Red Sox.

Boston is 51-41 overall and 22-24 at home. Red Sox hitters are batting a collective .253, which ranks third in the AL.

Kansas City is 20-25 in road games and 51-43 overall. Royals pitchers have a collective 3.80 ERA, which ranks sixth in the AL.

The matchup Friday is the first meeting this season between the two teams.

TOP PERFORMERS: Rafael Devers leads Boston with 21 home runs while slugging .581. Ceddanne Rafaela is 10-for-39 with three home runs and 10 RBI over the past 10 games.

Bobby Witt Jr. has 25 doubles, nine triples and 15 home runs while hitting .325 for the Royals. Salvador Perez is 9-for-39 with three home runs over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Red Sox: 8-2, .260 batting average, 3.48 ERA, outscored opponents by 16 runs

Royals: 5-5, .267 batting average, 4.19 ERA, outscored opponents by five runs

INJURIES: Red Sox: Chris Martin: 15-Day IL (elbow), Triston Casas: 60-Day IL (rib), Vaughn Grissom: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Garrett Whitlock: 60-Day IL (oblique), Trevor Story: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Bryan Mata: 15-Day IL (hamstring), Liam Hendriks: 60-Day IL (elbow), Chris Murphy: 60-Day IL (elbow), Lucas Giolito: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Royals: Dan Altavilla: 60-Day IL (oblique), Josh Taylor: 60-Day IL (biceps), 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.