The Royals have this series at home and hopes to take advantage of that, while Baltimore would love to come in and use its superior lineup to capture a couple games. Nobody has run away with the American League Central early on so the Royals have time to turn it around, but they need to start showing some signs of life or else they will be dismissed as a legitimate playoff hopeful.
The season is still young, but Kansas City is already facing a crossroads.
This series will be contested from Friday, May 12 through Sunday, May 14, 2017 at the Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
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Pitching Matchups
The Royals will aim for a strong start on Friday as they send left-hander Danny Duffy to the mound. He is 2-3 on the season with a 3.50 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP, and has the type of pure stuff to flummox even the best hitters. Baltimore will counter with Dylan Bundy, who was supposed to start on Thursday but got moved back a day because the game against the Nationals was postponed. Bundy is 5-1 on the season with a sparkling 2.17 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP.
On Saturday, Nathan Karns is scheduled to take the hill for Kansas City. He is 2-2 on the season with a 4.58 ERA. Karns is striking out more than a batter per inning and has a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio, which means his ERA should drop if he can keep up those peripherals. The Orioles will send Chris Tillman to the hill. He missed the beginning of the season due to injury but had a nice debut last time out, firing five innings of shutout ball to get the win over the White Sox.
The series will wrap on Sunday with the Royals expected to send Chris Young to the mound. He is a veteran who has lost a lot off his pitches and is now a liability. Young gave up four runs and seven hits in only three innings of work last time out in a spot start and has a 5.93 ERA on the season. The Orioles will be licking their chops to get a shot at him. Baltimore will counter with Kevin Gausman, who is 2-3 with a 6.63 ERA but had a strong outing last time out and has superior stuff.
Slow Start
The Royals aren’t looking anything like the team that became the World Series Champions two years ago. In fact, Kansas City is currently in last place in the American League Central division.
Their recent 3-1 series win against the Rays is a nice boost, but the team will need to string together some more victories or it might be time to make some moves. Kansas City shut out Tampa Bay 6-0 in the final matchup of the four-game series on Thursday and scored a combined 15 runs in the other three games. They hope the offense comes alive, as it has been mostly dormant on the year. Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Salvador Perez and Alex Gordon all have good experience but they need to start hitting better as a collective group.
The Royals enter this matchup with a record of 13-21. Included in those losses was a nine-game losing streak last month against the Rangers, White Sox and Twins.
Injury Report
Orioles closer Zach Britton got bad new on his forearm injury, as reports indicate he could be sidelined for up to two months from now after missing a big chunk of the season already.
Britton is a key piece for Baltimore which has relied on the strength of their bullpen in the past to close out games. He finished with a 0.54 ERA last season and will be difficult to replace.
Brad Brach has been filling in as a closer for the O’s, but after a strong start has struggled of late. He blew a ninth-inning lead against the Nationals Wednesday, facing six batters and giving up three runs while only getting one out.
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