The start of a crucial series for both teams.
For the first time since the third week of the season, the Kansas City Royals will take on the Cleveland Guardians tonight, this time at Kauffman Stadium. Keep an eye on the radar as storms are anticipated to roll through the Kansas City metro tonight, which will likely impact this game.
Michael Wacha will start for Kansas City. Wacha has mostly been as effective as he was last season, but he has had some struggles lately with a 4.78 ERA in eight starts since the calendar flipped to June. In that span, he’s seen his walk rate and home run rate go up while his strand rate has dropped. Most of Cleveland’s core hitters have been quite good against changeups this season, so he’ll have his work cut out for him. Wacha last faced Cleveland during this season’s opening weekend, allowing one run in four innings.
The Guardians will counter with Gavin Williams. Williams has posted a 3.54 ERA in 20 starts, which is pretty impressive given he has the highest walk rate among qualified starters by a significant margin. He’s coming off his best start of the season, an 11-strikeout seven-inning gem against A’s. He walked just one batter, breaking a streak of ten consecutive starts with at least one free pass. Williams last faced Kansas City on opening weekend, surrendering two runs across five innings.
Bobby Witt Jr. returns to the lineup as the shortstop after getting his first off day of the season on Wednesday.
First pitch: 7:10 pm CDT
Update 6:47 pm CDT: The game has been postponed and will be made up tomorrow as part of a split doubleheader.
Royals lineup
Back in the 816.