Houston Astros (70-49, first in the AL West) vs. Kansas City Royals (51-67, fifth in the AL Central)
Kansas City, Missouri; Wednesday, 8:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Astros: Zack Greinke (11-3, 3.51 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 107 strikeouts) Royals: Brady Singer (3-8, 5.42 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, 94 strikeouts)
LINE: Royals +150, Astros -174; over/under is 9 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Kansas City and Houston will square off on Wednesday.
The Royals are 31-30 on their home turf. Kansas City has slugged .387 this season. Salvador Perez leads the team with a .514 slugging percentage, including 49 extra-base hits and 30 home runs.
The Astros are 33-26 in road games. Houston is hitting a collective .265 this season, led by Michael Brantley with an average of .328.
The Royals won the last meeting 3-1. Daniel Lynch earned his third victory and Hanser Alberto went 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs for Kansas City. Framber Valdez took his fourth loss for Houston.
TOP PERFORMERS: Perez leads the Royals with 49 extra base hits and is batting .275.
Jose Altuve leads the Astros with 25 home runs and is slugging .476.
LAST 10 GAMES: Royals: 4-6, .259 batting average, 5.04 ERA, outscored by 16 runs
Astros: 5-5, .269 batting average, 2.73 ERA, outscored opponents by 14 runs
INJURIES: Royals: Kyle Zimmer: (neck/trap), Greg Holland: (shoulder), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Ronald Bolanos: (flexor), Adalberto Mondesi: (oblique).
Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Jose Urquidy: (arm), Andre Scrubb: (shoulder), Enoli Paredes: (shoulder), Rafael Montero: (shoulder), Tyler Ivey: (undisclosed), Kent Emanuel: (elbow), Kyle Tucker: (covid-19), Alex Bregman: (hamstring).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
