The Royals are just two seasons removed from winning a championship and have a lot of the same core of players, but they aren’t hitting very well and could be looking at a rebuild as many of the key players are about to enter free agency and could be traded.
Kansas City needs to turn it around quickly to give itself a shot at competing for the playoffs, and this is a crucial series on the road against a superior foe.
This series will be contested from Friday, May 26 through Sunday, May 28, 2017 at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. The Friday and Sunday games will be televised on MLB Network and the Saturday matchup will be shown on FOX Sports 1.
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Pitching Matchups
The Indians hope fireballing right-hander Danny Salazar can finally start to turn around his stuff. He is striking out batters at an elite rate but has been eminently hittable this season and thus enters with a 3-4 record and a 5.55 ERA. Salazar is too good to continue to struggle, and he could very well toss a gem against the Royals. Kansas City will counter with Ian Kennedy, who is 0-4 on the season but has a decent 4.06 ERA. He lasted only two innings last time out and hopes to put an injury and some recent ineffectiveness behind him for this one.
On Saturday, Cleveland will send out Josh Tomlin. He is only 2-6 on the season with a 6.70 ERA, but Tomlin’s WHIP is 1.43 and he rarely walks people which is likely a good sign moving forward. However, he doesn’t have nearly the same repertoire as Salazar. The Royals are slated to start Jason Vargas, who is 5-3 on the season with a sparkling 2.30 ERA. Vargas isn’t as good as his numbers suggest but his presence against Tomlin should give the Royals a chance in this one.
The series finale could be a pitcher’s duel, as Indians star Carlos Carrasco will face off against Royals ace Danny Duffy. Carrasco is 4-2 with a 2.93 ERA on the season and strikes out nearly a batter per inning. Duffy is 4-3 on the season with a 2.92 ERA, although he isn’t quite as dominant of a pitcher as Carrasco.
Key Stat
Five. That’s how many times this season the Royals have been shutout. The offensive woes continued against the Yankees on Wednesday as Kansas City fell 3-0 on the road.
The Royals have only scored four runs in the last three games combined and just can’t seem to get anything going offensively this season. They’ve scored 153 runs in all this season, which is the worst mark in the majors and 36 fewer than any other team in the American League.
The Royals boast a team batting average of only .229 on the season and an on-base percentage of .290. Outfielder Alex Gordon has really struggled this season hitting just .179 with seven RBIs and no home runs. The Royals have some proven contributors but few are tearing the cover off the ball early on.
Player To Watch
Edwin Encarnacion -- The Indians slugger has been heating up of late after a slow start. He has six hits in his past four games, including a two home run game against the Reds earlier this week. Encarnacion is only batting .217 on the season but he has nine homers and 20 RBIs.
Encarnacion’s OPS is only .755 on the season, but for his career it is nearly 100 points higher and it figures to keep creeping up. The Royals need to keep him in check or else they could be in trouble.
The Indians are playing this three-game series and have the vastly superior lineup, so they shouldn’t be content with anything less than two wins against Kansas City.
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