Royals-Mariners series preview, probable pitchers: Mariners swinging hot bats
Matchup: The Royals host the Seattle Mariners in a four-game series at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, starting on Monday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. Thursday.
TV/Radio: Fox Sports Kansas City will televise all four games, and KCSP 610 AM will broadcast each of the games on the radio.
Probable rotations: Seattle: Felix Hernandez (rh, 1-0, 1.69), Marco Gonzalez (lh, 3-0, 3.20), Yusel Kikuchi (lh, 0-0, 4.02), Mike Leake (rh, 2-0, 2.92); Kansas City: Homer Bailey (rh, 0-0, 5.40), Jakob Junis (rh, 1-0, 4.63), TBA, Jorge Lopez (rh, 0-1, 4.09).
Mariners notes: The Mariners are coming off a 12-5 win against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago. They came into Sunday leading the American League in runs per game (7.3), batting average (.274), on-base percentage (.367), slugging percentage (.549) and OPS (.915). … Sunday, they became the fourth American League team to homer in at least the first 11 games of a season since 1908. They joined the 2002 Indians (14 games), 2007 Rays (12 games) and 2017 Tigers (13 games). … Jay Bruce leads the team with 5 home runs this season, while shortstop Tim Beckham and outfieder Domingo Santana have four home runs apiece. Bruce had just nine HRs in 94 games for the New York Mets last season, but he’d posted back-to-back 30-homer seasons in 2017 and 2018.
Royals notes: The Royals return to Kansas City looking to snap a six-game losing streak since winning back-to-back games at the start of the season. Three of their six losses have come by one run, including an extra-inning loss at home to the Twins. … Whit Merrifield enters the series riding a 28-game hitting streak dating back to September 10, 2018. Merrifield’s streak is now the second-longest in club history behind only George Brett’s 30-game streak in 1980. Through eight games this season, Merrifield is batting .324 with an .890 OPS and nine runs scored. … Left fielder Alex Gordon entered play on Sunday ranked fifth in the American League in on-base percentage (.484). He went 0-for-4 on Sunday, but pushed his team-leading RBI total to eight in eight games. He’s also scored nine runs and hit two home runs this season.
