Kansas City Royals (16-15, third in the AL Central) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (14-16, third in the AL East)
Tampa, Florida; Thursday, 1:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Seth Lugo (2-3, 3.08 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 29 strikeouts); Rays: Shane Baz (3-0, 2.45 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 36 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Rays -160, Royals +135; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Rays play the Kansas City Royals looking to stop a three-game home losing streak.
Tampa Bay is 14-16 overall and 9-12 in home games. The Rays have an 11-6 record in games when they record eight or more hits.
Kansas City is 16-15 overall and 5-10 in road games. The Royals have gone 4-0 in games when they scored five or more runs.
Thursday's game is the third meeting between these teams this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Yandy Diaz has eight doubles and three home runs for the Rays. Junior Caminero is 9-for-43 with four doubles, a home run and two RBI over the last 10 games.
Bobby Witt Jr. has a .322 batting average to lead the Royals, and has 12 doubles and two home runs. Salvador Perez is 12-for-40 with five RBI over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 6-4, .220 batting average, 3.39 ERA, outscored by one run
Royals: 8-2, .267 batting average, 2.25 ERA, outscored opponents by 12 runs
INJURIES: Rays: Shane McClanahan: 60-Day IL (tricep), Jake Mangum: 10-Day IL (groin), Jonny Deluca: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Richie Palacios: 10-Day IL (knee), Alex Faedo: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Kevin Kelly: 15-Day IL (glute), Joshua Lowe: 10-Day IL (oblique), Ha-Seong Kim: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Nathan Lavender: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Royals: Cole Ragans: day-to-day (groin), Hunter Harvey: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Sam Long: 15-Day IL (elbow), Dairon Blanco: 10-Day IL (achilles), Kyle Wright: 15-Day IL (shoulder), James McArthur: 15-Day IL (elbow), Alec Marsh: 15-Day IL (shoulder)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The Associated Press
