Jax expected to start for the Twins against the Royals
Kansas City Royals (63-77, fourth in the AL Central) vs. Minnesota Twins (62-78, fifth in the AL Central)
Minneapolis; Friday, 8:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Daniel Lynch (4-4, 5.25 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 40 strikeouts) Twins: Griffin Jax (3-3, 6.79 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 47 strikeouts)
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Twins -135, Royals +115; over/under is 9 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Minnesota and Kansas City will play on Friday.
The Twins are 32-36 on their home turf. Minnesota is slugging .420 as a unit. Jorge Polanco leads the club with a .507 slugging percentage, including 61 extra-base hits and 27 home runs.
The Royals are 29-42 on the road. Kansas City has slugged .390 this season. Salvador Perez leads the club with a .546 slugging percentage, including 61 extra-base hits and 42 home runs.
The Twins won the last meeting 6-2. Kenta Maeda earned his fourth victory and Polanco went 2-for-5 with a double, a home run and two RBIs for Minnesota. Brad Keller took his ninth loss for Kansas City.
TOP PERFORMERS: Polanco leads the Twins with 61 extra base hits and is batting .276.
Perez leads the Royals with 104 RBIs and is batting .276.
LAST 10 GAMES: Twins: 5-5, .221 batting average, 3.62 ERA, outscored by six runs
Royals: 4-6, .235 batting average, 3.80 ERA, outscored opponents by one run
INJURIES: Twins: Lewis Thorpe: (shoulder), Cody Stashak: (back), Devin Smeltzer: (elbow), Taylor Rogers: (finger), Kenta Maeda: (forearm), Randy Dobnak: (finger), Edwar Colina: (elbow), Alex Kirilloff: (wrist), Kyle Garlick: (hernia), Mitch Garver: (back).
Royals: Richard Lovelady: (elbow), Brad Keller: (shoulder), Jakob Junis: (shoulder), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Ronald Bolanos: (flexor), Cam Gallagher: (knee).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.