Indians at Royals
The Kansas City Royals overcame a lot of adversity in snapping the visiting Cleveland Indians' five-game winning streak Wednesday night. A lengthy rain delay, a power outage and an injury led to a six-hour game and left the teams only 12 hours before they take the field for Thursday afternoon's series finale. The Royals will likely be without left fielder Alex Gordon, who suffered a possible concussion when he crashed into the wall while chasing down fly ball.
Cleveland has won 15 of 21 overall and is 7-3 on its 11-game road trip entering Thursday's matchup. Jason Kipnis, who was named the American League Player of the Month on Wednesday, added to his torrid stretch by extending his hitting streak to 14 games and reaching base for the 34th consecutive contest. Kipnis had an inside-the-park, three-run homer on the play on which Gordon was injured, giving him four blasts and 13 RBIs in his last eight games.
TV: 2:10 p.m. ET, SportsTime Ohio (Cleveland), FSN (Kansas City)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians RH Ubaldo Jimenez (6-4, 4.63 ERA) vs. Royals RH James Shields (3-6, 2.99)
Even though Jimenez is riding a four-start unbeaten streak, his recent outings have been marked by high pitch counts and low innings. That was the case last time out when he made it through five innings and threw 112 pitches but did not factor in the decision against the Chicago White Sox. Jimenez had one of his best outings of the season in Kansas City on April 29, tossing seven scoreless innings of three-hit ball.
Shields ended a 10-start drought in his last outing, giving up three runs in 6 1/3 innings at Minnesota to win for the first time since April 30. He has limited the opposition to two runs or fewer in eight of his last 11 starts, including six innings of one-run ball at Cleveland on June 17. The Royals have scored 16 runs in his last two outings after managing only 21 runs in his previous nine starts.
WALK-OFFS
1. Shields has endured his struggles against the Indians, logging a 1-5 record and 3.76 ERA in 10 career starts.
2. Jimenez has allowed 11 earned runs in his last five starts but has not made it through six innings in any of them.
3. Indians CF Michael Bourn had two hits Wednesday in his return from the paternity list.