Kansas City Royals (33-43, fourth in the AL Central) vs. Boston Red Sox (47-31, first in the AL East)
Boston; Monday, 7:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Danny Duffy (4-3, 1.81 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 53 strikeouts) Red Sox: Garrett Richards (4-5, 4.74 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 64 strikeouts)
LINE: Red Sox -154, Royals +133; over/under is 10 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Kansas City enters the matchup as losers of their last five games.
The Red Sox are 23-17 on their home turf. The Boston offense has compiled a .258 batting average as a team this season, good for third in the American League. Xander Bogaerts leads the team with a mark of .330.
The Royals have gone 15-24 away from home. Kansas City has slugged .383 this season. Salvador Perez leads the team with a .510 slugging percentage, including 33 extra-base hits and 18 home runs.
The Royals won the last meeting 7-3. Mike Minor secured his sixth victory and Whit Merrifield went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs for Kansas City. Nathan Eovaldi took his fourth loss for Boston.
TOP PERFORMERS: Rafael Devers leads the Red Sox with 43 extra base hits and is batting .283.
Perez leads the Royals with 47 RBIs and is batting .277.
LAST 10 GAMES: Red Sox: 6-4, .275 batting average, 3.25 ERA, outscored opponents by 10 runs
Royals: 3-7, .243 batting average, 6.01 ERA, outscored by 24 runs
INJURIES: Red Sox: Chris Sale: (elbow), Ryan Brasier: (left calf), Christian Arroyo: (knee), Kevin Plawecki: (hamstring).
Royals: Daniel Tillo: (undisclosed), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Ronald Bolanos: (flexor), Andrew Benintendi: (rib), Adalberto Mondesi: (oblique), Cam Gallagher: (shoulder).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
