Royals try to sweep Orioles in AL Wild Card Series

Kansas City Royals (86-76, second in the AL Central during the regular season) vs. Baltimore Orioles (91-71, second in the AL East during the regular season)

Baltimore; Wednesday, 4:38 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Seth Lugo (16-9, 3.00 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 181 strikeouts); Orioles: Zach Eflin (10-9, 3.59 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 134 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Orioles -158, Royals +133; over/under is 7 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Royals meet in Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series. The Royals lead the series 1-0 and can move on to the ALDS with a victory.

Baltimore has a 91-71 record overall and a 44-37 record at home. Orioles hitters are batting a collective .250, the seventh-best team batting average in MLB play.

Kansas City has an 86-76 record overall and a 41-40 record on the road. The Royals have the eighth-best team ERA in baseball at 3.76.

The teams meet Wednesday for the eighth time this season. The Orioles lead the season series 4-3.

TOP PERFORMERS: Anthony Santander leads the Orioles with 44 home runs while slugging .506. Cedric Mullins is 12-for-40 with two doubles, a home run and three RBI over the last 10 games.

Bobby Witt Jr. has 45 doubles, 11 triples and 32 home runs for the Royals. Salvador Perez is 9-for-41 with a double and two RBI over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Orioles: 6-4, .273 batting average, 3.60 ERA, outscored opponents by 13 runs

Royals: 5-5, .166 batting average, 2.02 ERA, outscored by six runs

INJURIES: Orioles: Burch Smith: 15-Day IL (groin), Grayson Rodriguez: 15-Day IL (lat), Jorge Mateo: 60-Day IL (elbow), Kyle Bradish: 60-Day IL (ucl sprain), Tyler Wells: 60-Day IL (elbow), John Means: 60-Day IL (elbow), Felix Bautista: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Royals: Cole Ragans: day-to-day (calf), James McArthur: 15-Day IL (elbow), Chris Stratton: 15-Day IL (forearm), Will Smith: 15-Day IL (back), Hunter Harvey: 15-Day IL (back), Josh Taylor: 60-Day IL (biceps), Kyle Wright: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press