Kansas City Royals, streaking Whit Merrifield set for matchup against Cleveland Indians

Cleveland Indians (90-70, first in AL Central) vs. Kansas City Royals (57-103, fifth in AL Central)

Kansas City, Missouri; Saturday, 7:15 p.m. Eastern

PROBABLE PITCHERS: Indians: Corey Kluber (20-7, 2.83 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 216 strikeouts) Royals: Jake Junis (8-12, 4.42 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 158 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: Whit Merrifield has notched a hit in 18 straight games for Kansas City. He'll look to keep it going against Cleveland. The Royals are 12-17 in games started by Junis. Kansas City is hitting a collective .245 this year, led by Merrifield's mark of .303. The Indians head into the matchup with a 14-game lead over the Twins in the AL Central. Cleveland's lineup is averaging 4.9 RBIs per game this season. Edwin Encarnacion paces the team with 106 RBIs. In Friday's game, the Indians defeated the Royals 14-6. Mike Clevinger got the win for Cleveland, his 13th on the season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Francisco Lindor has 127 runs and 91 RBIs for the Indians this season. Jason Kipnis has three home runs and 10 RBIs while slugging .667 over his past 10 games for Cleveland. Salvador Perez has 27 home runs and 80 RBIs on the year for the Royals. Adalberto Mondesi has 10 hits and is batting .227 over his past 10 games for Kansas City.

LAST 10 GAMES: Indians: 6-4, .288 batting average, 3.28 ERA, outscored opponents by 20 runs. Royals: 5-5, .230 batting average, 4.03 ERA, outscored by five runs.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by HERO Sports, and data from Sportradar.