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Surging Yankees look to take series from Royals
By: Staff Writer - StatFox
Published: 5/11/2016  at  5:54:00 AM
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By Brad Kallet

KANSAS CITY ROYALS (15-17)

at NEW YORK YANKEES (13-18)

First pitch: Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. ET
Line: Kansas City +134, New York -144, Total: 7.5

The surging Yankees look to take the four-game series from the reigning World Series-champion Royals in the Bronx.

The Yankees (13-18) took the opener of this series, 6-3, on Monday night, and then gutted out a 10-7 victory over the World Series-champion Royals (15-17) on Tuesday. The Bombers put themselves in a major hole early with an 9-17 start to the season, but they’ve won four of five as they look to get out of the American League East cellar. The Royals, in third place in the AL Central and seven games behind the first-place White Sox, have lost five of six. On the mound for Kansas City in the third game of this series will be RHP Yordano Ventura (2-2, 4.65 ERA, 25 SO, 25 BB, 3 HR in 31 BB), who has had awful command through his first six starts. He’ll be opposed by RHP Michael Pineda (1-3, 5.73 ERA, 34 SO, 9 BB, 8 HR in 33 IP), who has been prone to giving up long balls. The Yankees have gone 9-8 at Yankee Stadium, while the Royals have really struggled away from Kauffman Stadium, posting a 6-12 road mark.

CF Lorenzo Cain (.270, 5 HR, 15 RBI, .321 OBP) broke out with a three-homer game on Tuesday, which is a very positive sign for the offensive-starved Royals (112 runs – 12th in AL). Manager Ned Yost’s best player all year has been 1B Eric Hosmer (.325, 6 HR, 16 RBI, .377 OBP), who hits for both average and power. With 3B Mike Moustakas (.258, 7 HR, 13 RBI, .314 OBP) on the 15-day disabled list, 3B Cheslor Cuthbert (.313, 1 HR, 3 RBI, .313 OBP) has taken over as the starter at third, and he’s produced over his first 16 at-bats. LF Alex Gordon (.234, 3 HR, 7 RBI, .344 OBP), C Salvador Perez (.234, 4 HR, 15 RBI, .265 OBP), CF Jarrod Dyson (.224, 0 HR, 4 RBI, .286 OBP) and DH Kendrys Morales (.193, 3 HR, 12 RBI, .240) have underachieved greatly through the first 32 games. Perez has hit Pineda well, going 5-for-15 with a double, and Hosmer (3-for-12) has homered off him. In one career start against the Yankees, back in September of 2014, Ventura threw six scoreless innings and earned the win.

DH Carlos Beltran (.252, 6 HR, 14 RBI, .267 OBP) has had a terrific series, going 4-for-9 with two home runs, two RBIs, three runs scored and a double. C Brian McCann (.286, 4 HR, 14 RBI, .375 OBP), who homered on Monday and had three hits on Tuesday, has also been heating up. The most consistent hitter in Joe Girardi’s lineup, however, has been 2B Starlin Castro (.297, 3 HR, 12 RBI, .345 OBP). Despite hitting just .260 and .240, respectively, CF Jacoby Ellsbury (.260, 1 HR, 9 RBI, .321 OBP) and Brett Gardner (.240, 4 HR, 9 RBI, .361 OBP) remain tough outs. The Yankees have only faced Ventura once, so they haven’t seen much of him. Backup OF Dustin Ackley (.143, 0 HR, 3 RBI, .244 OBP) has gone 2-for-7 against him with a homer, and OF Aaron Hicks (.170, 2 HR, 7 RBI, .226 OBP) has gone 2-for-8 with a homer, a double and a walk. In six career starts against the Royals, Pineda is 3-3 with a 2.52 ERA. The Yankees have arguably the most dominant bullpen in baseball, with RHP Dellin Betances (2.57 ERA, 27 SO, 3 BB in 14 IP), LHP Andrew Miller (0.71 ERA, 23 SO, 1 BB, 6 SV, 1 BLSV in 12 2/3 IP) and LHP Aroldis Chapman (4.50 ERA, 3 SO, 1 BB, 1 SV, 0 BLSV in 2 IP) manning the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.


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