Royals-Rangers series preview, probable pitchers: Royals finish road trip in Texas
Matchup: The Royals (18-37) start a four-game series against the Texas Rangers (27-26) at Globe Life Park in Arlington starting Thursday night. First pitch on Thursday and Friday is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Central. Saturday’s game will start at 3:05 p.m. Sunday’s game will start at 2:05 p.m.
TV/Radio: Fox Sports Kansas City will televise all four games, and KCSP (610 AM) will have the radio broadcasts of each game.
Probable rotations: Kansas City: Jakob Junis (rh, 3-5, 5.58), Danny Duffy (lh, 3-1, 3.12), Homer Bailey (rh, 4-5, 5.79), Brad Keller (3-6, 4.56); Texas: Mike Minor (lh, 5-3, 2.55), Ariel Jurado (rh, 1-2, 2.28), Lance Lynn (rh, 6-4, 4.66), Adrian Sampson (rh, 3-3, 4.53).
Season series: Texas leads 2-1.
Royals notes: The Royals lost the finale of a three-game series with the Chicago White Sox 8-7 on Wednesday night in Chicago. The White Sox swept the series, winning each game by one run. Jorge Soler hit his 13th home run of the season to set a new career high for home runs in a season. The loss marked the Royals first this season when they’ve score 7 runs or more (11-1). … Naperville, Ill., native Nicky Lopez snapped an 0-for-20 slump with an RBI triple in the sixth inning of Wednesday night’s game. He also had a two-run single. The three RBIs were a career high in a single game for Lopez since being called up from Triple-A on May 14. … Royals left-handed reliever Jake Diekman spent 2016-2017 and part of 2018 with the Rangers. In the month of May, Diekman has made 11 appearances (11 innings) and posted a WHIP of 0.73 and an opponents batting average of .086. He’s struck out 21 batters and walked five.
Rangers notes: Texas moved above .500 with an 8-7 win over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday in Seattle. Asdrubal Cabrera’s ninth-inning RBI double provided the margin of victory. Logan Forsyth had three hits in the win, and Nomar Mazara also had three hits. … The Rangers have 10 runs or more 10 times this season, the most for any team in MLB this season. The Rangers set a season high for runs the last time they played the Royals, a 16-1 win. Outfielder Joey Gallo enters the series tied for fifth in the American League in home runs (15), second in both slugging percentage (.636) and OBP (.422). He also has a 35 RBIs. … Thursday’s starter, Mike Minor, spent the 2016-17 seasons with the Royals. He spent 2016 in the minors and made 10 appearances combined between Double-A and Triple-A. In 2017, he made 65 relief appearances and recorded a 2.55 ERA, 17 holds and six saves.
This story was originally published May 30, 2019 at 12:42 PM.
