Royals at Yankees
The Kansas City Royals have been in a tailspin since winning 12 of their first 18 games but they can still salvage a split of a four-game series against the host New York Yankees on Thursday night. The reigning World Series champions ended a three-game skid with a 7-3 victory Wednesday -- only their fourth win in 15 games.
Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain followed up Tuesday's three-homer binge with a two-run single Wednesday, giving him seven RBIs in the series while stretching his hitting streak to six games (11-for-25). New York is 4-2 on its nine-game homestand and bidding to win back-to-back series for the first time this season. Yankees outfielder Carlos Beltran is 6-for-13 with three homers in the series and has hit safely in 10 straight games against the team with which he started his career. Two pitchers coming off their best outings of the year will square off when Kansas City sends Ian Kennedy to the mound to oppose fellow right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FSN Kansas City, YES (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Royals RH Ian Kennedy (4-2, 2,13 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Nathan Eovaldi (2-2, 4.78)
Kennedy, a former first-round pick of the Yankees who spent parts of his first three seasons in the Bronx, continued his superb start to the season with seven scoreless innings of four-hit ball in a victory at Cleveland on Saturday. It was the fifth time in six starts that Kennedy has surrendered two earned runs or fewer and also the fifth time he pitched at least six innings. Yankees catcher Brian McCann is 5-for-16 with a pair of home runs against Kennedy.
Eovaldi lit up the radar gun versus Boston on Saturday, reaching 100 mph on a number of occasions while limiting the Red Sox to two runs and six hits while striking out six over a season-high eight innings. It was a huge bounce-back performance after he was knocked around for six runs on 10 hits in a loss to Boston in his previous turn. Eovaldi won his lone career start versus Kansas City in 2015, giving up one run over seven innings in a 14-1 drubbing.
WALK-OFFS
1. Royals C Salvador Perez halted a 14-game homer drought with a three-run blast Wednesday.
2. Yankees CF Aaron Hicks is 6-for-10 in the series while subbing for an injured Jacoby Ellsbury.
3. Royals 1B Eric Hosmer has hit safely in 27 of his last 29 games.