Royals try to stop road slide, face the Athletics

Kansas City Royals (41-34, third in the AL Central) vs. Oakland Athletics (28-48, fifth in the AL West)

Oakland, California; Thursday, 3:37 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Seth Lugo (10-2, 2.40 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 79 strikeouts); Athletics: Mitch Spence (4-3, 3.95 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 43 strikeouts)

: LINE Royals -189, Athletics +158; over/under is 7 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Kansas City Royals will aim to end their three-game road skid in a matchup against the Oakland Athletics.

Oakland has a 17-20 record in home games and a 28-48 record overall. The Athletics have a 14-5 record in games when they scored five or more runs.

Kansas City has a 16-20 record in road games and a 41-34 record overall. Royals hitters have a collective .312 on-base percentage, the sixth-ranked percentage in the AL.

The teams play Thursday for the sixth time this season. The Royals are up 3-2 in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: Brent Rooker leads the Athletics with a .260 batting average, and has 13 doubles, two triples, 13 home runs, 26 walks and 44 RBI. Miguel Andujar is 16-for-42 with two RBI over the past 10 games.

Vinnie Pasquantino has 20 doubles, two triples and seven home runs for the Royals. Hunter Renfroe is 7-for-18 with two doubles and two home runs over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Athletics: 2-8, .238 batting average, 5.08 ERA, outscored by 13 runs

Royals: 2-8, .215 batting average, 5.17 ERA, outscored by 22 runs

INJURIES: Athletics: Kyle Muller: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Alex Wood: 60-Day IL (rotator cuff), Paul Blackburn: 60-Day IL (foot), Ross Stripling: 15-Day IL (elbow), Esteury Ruiz: 10-Day IL (wrist), Darell Hernaiz: 60-Day IL (ankle), Ken Waldichuk: 60-Day IL (elbow), Trevor Gott: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Royals: Hunter Renfroe: 10-Day IL (toe), Michael Wacha: 15-Day IL (foot), Michael Massey: 10-Day IL (back), Josh Taylor: 60-Day IL (biceps), Kris Bubic: 60-Day IL (elbow), Kyle Wright: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

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