Slumping Royals look to stop 4-game losing streak against Twins
Kansas City Royals (40-71, fourth in the AL Central) vs. Minnesota Twins (67-42, first in the AL Central)
Minneapolis; Saturday, 7 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Danny Duffy (5-5, 4.42 ERA) Twins: Kyle Gibson (10-4, 4.10 ERA)
LINE: Twins favored by 1 1/2 runs; over/under is 10 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Kansas City enters the matchup as losers of their last four games.
The Twins are 25-13 against AL Central teams. Minnesota has hit a league-leading 211 home runs this season, Max Kepler leads the team with 30 homers.
The Royals are 22-32 against the rest of their division. Kansas City has a collective on-base percentage of .310, led by Hunter Dozier with a mark of .366. The Twins won the last meeting 11-9. Trevor May earned his fourth victory and Nelson Cruz went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run and five RBIs for Minnesota. Richard Lovelady took his first loss for Kansas City.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kepler leads the Twins with 30 home runs and is batting .268. Cruz has 14 hits and is batting .452 over the last 10 games for Minnesota.
Whit Merrifield leads the Royals with 141 hits and has 55 RBIs. Dozier is 9-for-39 with a double, three home runs and six RBIs over the last 10 games for Kansas City.
LAST 10 GAMES: Twins: 6-4, .262 batting average, 5.09 ERA, outscored opponents by 17 runs
Royals: 3-7, .238 batting average, 5.27 ERA, outscored by 24 runs
Twins Injuries: LaMonte Wade Jr: 10-day IL (thumb), Byron Buxton: day-to-day (shoulder), C.J. Cron: 10-day IL (thumb), Willians Astudillo: 10-day IL (oblique).
Royals Injuries: Trevor Oaks: 60-day IL (hip), Jesse Hahn: 60-day IL (elbow), Adalberto Mondesi: 10-day IL (shoulder), Salvador Perez: 60-day IL (elbow).
