New York Yankees (49-21, first in the AL East) vs. Kansas City Royals (39-30, second in the AL Central)
Kansas City, Missouri; Thursday, 2:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Yankees: Nestor Cortes Jr. (3-5, 3.68 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 78 strikeouts); Royals: Alec Marsh (5-3, 4.05 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 54 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Yankees -159, Royals +134; over/under is 10 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Kansas City Royals take on the New York Yankees as losers of four straight games.
Kansas City has a 24-14 record at home and a 39-30 record overall. The Royals have the sixth-best team slugging percentage in MLB play at .410.
New York is 49-21 overall and 27-11 in road games. The Yankees have a 39-6 record in games when they record at least eight hits.
The teams meet Thursday for the fourth time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Salvador Perez has 15 doubles, 10 home runs and 42 RBI for the Royals. MJ Melendez is 3-for-33 with three home runs over the past 10 games.
Juan Soto has a .317 batting average to lead the Yankees, and has 11 doubles, three triples and 17 home runs. Aaron Judge is 17-for-35 with five home runs and 17 RBI over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Royals: 4-6, .255 batting average, 5.90 ERA, outscored by 18 runs
Yankees: 8-2, .257 batting average, 3.82 ERA, outscored opponents by 23 runs
INJURIES: Royals: Hunter Renfroe: 10-Day IL (toe), Michael Wacha: 15-Day IL (foot), Michael Massey: 10-Day IL (back), Josh Taylor: 60-Day IL (biceps), Kris Bubic: 60-Day IL (elbow), Kyle Wright: 60-Day IL (shoulder)
Yankees: Jon Berti: 60-Day IL (calf), Clarke Schmidt: 15-Day IL (lat), Nick Burdi: 15-Day IL (hip), Jonathan Loaisiga: 60-Day IL (elbow), JT Brubaker: 60-Day IL (elbow), Gerrit Cole: 60-Day IL (elbow), Lou Trivino: 60-Day IL (elbow), Scott Effross: 60-Day IL (back)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
