Kansas City Royals (65-82, fifth in the AL Central) vs. Boston Red Sox (80-67, third in the AL East)
Boston; Friday, 7:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Seth Lugo (6-8, 5.04 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 119 strikeouts); Red Sox: Sonny Gray (17-4, 2.69 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 135 strikeouts)
LINE: Red Sox -205, Royals +165; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Boston Red Sox start a three-game series at home against the Kansas City Royals on Friday.
Boston has a 36-36 record at home and an 80-67 record overall. Red Sox pitchers have a collective 3.63 ERA, which ranks second in the AL.
Kansas City has a 65-82 record overall and a 26-46 record in road games. The Royals are 51-29 in games when they record at least eight hits.
The teams match up Friday for the fourth time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Wilyer Abreu has 34 doubles, four triples and 24 home runs for the Red Sox. Trevor Story is 14 for 41 with five doubles over the last 10 games.
Jac Caglianone leads the Royals with 23 home runs while slugging .494. Carter Jensen is 11 for 37 with four home runs and eight RBIs over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Red Sox: 6-4, .235 batting average, 4.35 ERA, outscored by two runs
Royals: 3-7, .225 batting average, 4.79 ERA, outscored by 15 runs
INJURIES: Red Sox: Justin Slaten: 15-Day IL (elbow), Eduardo Rivera: 60-Day IL (back), Zack Kelly: 60-Day IL (elbow), Kutter Crawford: 60-Day IL (wrist), Ceddanne Rafaela: 10-Day IL (quadricep), Johan Oviedo: 60-Day IL (elbow), Willson Contreras: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Tayron Guerrero: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Masataka Yoshida: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Garrett Crochet: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Curtis Mead: 10-Day IL (hand), Triston Casas: 60-Day IL (knee), Tanner Houck: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Royals: Jac Caglianone: day-to-day (elbow), Carlos Estevez: 60-Day IL (foot), Stephen Kolek: 60-Day IL (flexor), Maikel Garcia: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Connor Seabold: 60-Day IL (lat), Beck Way: 15-Day IL (back), Tony Gonsolin: 15-Day IL (elbow), Nick Mears: 60-Day IL (shoulder), James McArthur: 60-Day IL (elbow), Luinder Avila: 60-Day IL (forearm), Cole Ragans: 60-Day IL (elbow), Jonathan India: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Alec Marsh: 60-Day IL (shoulder)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
