Mariners at Royals
The Seattle Mariners have yet to lose a series this season while the Kansas City Royals have yet to win one, but those trends could end Wednesday afternoon as the teams meet at Kauffman Stadium for the rubber match of their three-game set. Seattle bounced back from a 10-0 beating in the series opener by thumping Kansas City 8-3 on Tuesday behind Jean Segura's three-hit, two-RBI effort.
Segura, who fell a homer shy of the cycle in the victory, has hit safely in seven of his first nine games while registering five multi-hit performances over his last seven contests. The Mariners began the year by winning two of three against Cleveland before splitting two-game sets versus San Francisco and Minnesota, while the Royals have lost two series and split another. Mike Moustakas drove in all the runs for Kansas City on Tuesday, hitting a two-run homer in the fourth inning before delivering an RBI single in the sixth. The 29-year-old third baseman, who belted a career-high 38 shots last season, has gone deep in back-to-back games while recording six of his eight RBIs in those contests.
TV: 2:15 p.m. ET, ROOT Northwest (Seattle), FS Kansas City
PITCHING MATCHUP: Mariners LH James Paxton (0-1, 7.45 ERA) vs. Royals LH Danny Duffy (0-2, 7.45)
Paxton struggled in his season debut but bounced back nicely at Minnesota on Thursday, allowing two runs and four hits with seven strikeouts in five-plus innings. The 29-year-old Canadian kept the Twins scoreless over the first five frames, but he yielded a single and a homer in the sixth before exiting and settled for a no-decision. Paxton has yet to lose to Kansas City in his career, going 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA in four starts.
Duffy got off to a rough start at Cleveland on Friday, squandering an early 2-0 lead by allowing the first five batters he faced to reach on three walks and two hits. The 29-year-old Californian righted the ship, yielding just one hit while retiring 17 of the final 20 hitters he faced, but still came away with the loss. Duffy is 1-2 with a 2.67 ERA in six starts and two relief appearances against the Mariners in his career.
WALK-OFFS
1. Two of Mariners OF Guillermo Heredia's three hits this season have been home runs.
2. Seattle OF Ben Gamel (oblique) is likely to be activated from the disabled list on Friday.
3. Kansas City placed Alex Gordon (hip) on the 10-day disabled list Tuesday and recalled fellow OF Abraham Almonte from Triple-A Omaha.