Boston Red Sox (19-27, fifth in the AL East) vs. Kansas City Royals (20-27, fifth in the AL Central)

Kansas City, Missouri; Monday, 7:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Red Sox: Sonny Gray (4-1, 3.18 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 21 strikeouts); Royals: Seth Lugo (1-3, 3.76 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 46 strikeouts)

LINE: Red Sox -115, Royals -105; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Kansas City Royals will try to break a six-game slide when they play the Boston Red Sox.

Kansas City has a 13-10 record in home games and a 20-27 record overall. The Royals have the ninth-ranked team ERA in the AL at 4.30.

Boston has an 11-13 record on the road and a 19-27 record overall. The Red Sox have gone 8-22 in games when they have given up at least one home run.

Monday's game is the first time these teams match up this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Bobby Witt Jr. leads the Royals with a .303 batting average, and has 12 doubles, a triple, seven home runs, 23 walks and 23 RBI. Maikel Garcia is 11 for 43 with five RBI over the past 10 games.

Willson Contreras leads the Red Sox with 15 extra base hits (six doubles and nine home runs). Ceddanne Rafaela is 10 for 32 with two doubles, two home runs and five RBI over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Royals: 3-7, .244 batting average, 4.44 ERA, outscored by eight runs

Red Sox: 4-6, .215 batting average, 2.73 ERA, outscored by nine runs

INJURIES: Royals: Matt Strahm: 15-Day IL (knee), Cole Ragans: 15-Day IL (elbow), Carlos Estevez: 15-Day IL (foot), Jonathan India: 10-Day IL (shoulder), James McArthur: 60-Day IL (elbow), Alec Marsh: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

Red Sox: Carlos Narvaez: day-to-day (finger), Connor Wong: day-to-day (ankle), Trevor Story: 10-Day IL (groin), Kutter Crawford: 15-Day IL (wrist), Garrett Crochet: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Roman Anthony: 10-Day IL (wrist), Danny Coulombe: 15-Day IL (cervical spasms), Patrick Sandoval: 60-Day IL (elbow), Triston Casas: 60-Day IL (knee), Johan Oviedo: 60-Day IL (elbow), Romy Gonzalez: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Tanner Houck: 60-Day IL (elbow)

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