Kansas City Royals (44-30) at Houston Astros (46-34), 8:10 p.m. (ET)
(SportsNetwork.com) - The Kansas City Royals turn to Edinson Volquez on Wednesday night as they try to salvage the finale of a three-game set with the Houston Astros.
Volquez comes in having won four straight starts. He has pitched to a 2.96 earned run average over that streak and is 8-4 on the year with a 3.18 ERA.
The right-hander went seven innings for the second time over his unbeaten run when he recorded a 5-2 decision over Oakland on Friday. Volquez scattered a run, three hits and one walk while striking out three, including the 1,000th strikeout of his career.
"He threw the ball extremely well tonight," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "A thousand strikeouts is a lot of strikeouts."
Volquez, who turns 32 on Friday, is a perfect 6-0 lifetime against the Astros with a 2.09 ERA in eight starts.
Vincent Velasquez makes a fifth attempt at his first career victory tonight for the Astros.
The 23-year-old righty has allowed two or fewer runs in three of his first four outings and appeared on track to beat the New York Yankees on Friday. However, he ended up being charged with a pair of runs over 6 1/3 innings of a no-decision as the bullpen allowed a three-run homer after his exit.
"He's very result-oriented," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Velasquez. "He's really hard on himself. He wants to be perfect. I think there's a deep competitor inside of him that is easy for me to see on the field.
"But I think he's handled a lot of the information that we've thrown at him."
Velasquez has pitched to a 3.72 ERA without a decision to begin his career and faces the Royals for the first time.
The Astros rode another strong start from Dallas Keuchel last night as the potential All-Star won his 10th game of the season thanks to seven strikeouts over eight scoreless innings.
Keuchel was coming off his second shutout of the season last Thursday when he fanned a career-high 12 batters versus the New York Yankees and scattered seven hits against the Royals. He's 8-0 at home this season and has pitched at least six innings in 28 straight starts, the longest active streak in the majors.
"It's never easy to take Dallas Keuchel out of a game," Hinch said. "He was a little tired in my eyes, but not in his eyes. I've got to balance the short term and the long term."
George Springer hit a two-run homer to back another solid pitching effort as Houston has allowed just two runs over a three-game win streak.
Danny Duffy was charged with four runs on six hits over 6 2/3 innings as the Royals dropped their second in a row following a four-game winning streak.
"He elevated a couple of pitches they didn't miss," Yost said. "For the most part, I thought he threw the ball really well."
This is the first set of the season between these clubs after they traded three-game road sweeps in 2014.