Royals, streaking Merrifield set for matchup with Athletics
Kansas City Royals (29-31, third in the AL Central) vs. Oakland Athletics (37-26, first in the AL West)
Oakland, California; Thursday, 9:40 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Mike Minor (4-3, 4.84 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 73 strikeouts) Athletics: Frankie Montas (6-5, 4.52 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 65 strikeouts)
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Athletics -158, Royals +137; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Kansas City Royals head to take on the Oakland Athletics on Thursday.
The Athletics are 19-17 in home games in 2020. Oakland has hit 77 home runs this season, eighth in the American League. Matt Olson leads the team with 15, averaging one every 13.5 at-bats.
The Royals are 13-16 in road games. Kansas City has hit 57 home runs this season, last in the American League. Salvador Perez leads the club with 14, averaging one every 16.7 at-bats.
TOP PERFORMERS: Olson leads the Athletics with 15 home runs and has 41 RBIs.
Perez leads the Royals with 14 home runs and is batting .278.
LAST 10 GAMES: Athletics: 6-4, .251 batting average, 2.71 ERA, outscored opponents by 17 runs
Royals: 5-5, .268 batting average, 4.97 ERA, outscored opponents by three runs
INJURIES: Athletics: J.B. Wendelken: (left oblique), Trevor Rosenthal: (chest), A.J. Puk: (left biceps), Reymin Guduan: (groin), Mike Fiers: (right elbow), Ramon Laureano: (hip).
Royals: Daniel Tillo: (undisclosed), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Danny Duffy: (forearm), Adalberto Mondesi: (hamstring).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.