This Tuesday the (68-64) Cleveland Guardians and the (55-80) Kansas City Royals will play game two of this three-game series. The first pitch will be thrown out at 8:10 PM EST inside Kauffman Stadium. The last time these two teams matched up, the Royals ended up stealing two of three games.
The Cleveland Guardians are coming into this one after being swept by the Seattle Mariners. Cleveland continued to struggle at the plate, as they scored one combined run in the first two games. They will need to get it going at the dish if they want to avoid dropping more games in this series.
The Kansas City Royals are entering this one after winning their previous series against the Detroit Tigers. The Royals looked solid on the mound, as they held the Tigers to four combined runs in the final two games of that series. They will need to keep it rolling on the mound if they want to take care of business in t his one.
This game was written/published before last night's results.
The Cleveland Guardians are sliding in the wrong direction, as they are 2-8 in their last 10 games played and they have lost five in a row. Luckily, they are still tied with the Minnesota Twins for first place in the AL Central. The Guardians are also still 5.0 games back from the third and final AL Wild Card spot, as they will need to do everything they can to win their division.
At the plate, the Guardians are scoring 4.20 runs per game and they are hitting .249 as a team. This is the 22nd least amount of runs scored per game and the 11th highest overall team batting average. They have shown that they can consistently reach base, but they have struggled when they have men in scoring position. The Guardians have also shown that they have very little power hidden inside of their batting lineup. They are only hitting .77 home runs per game, which is the second lowest average in the MLB. They have been forced to string together multiple base hits in order to score. I also expect Cleveland to stay aggressive once they have reached base safely. They have already stolen 85 bases this season, which is the seventh most in the league. They will do whatever it takes to push their base runners closer to home plate.
According to MLB.com, Shane Bieber will be getting the start in this one. He has been solid this season, as he is 8-8 with a 3.06 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. Bieber also looked great in his last start, as he pitched for 7.0 innings and only gave up three earned runs. He has also pitched for at least 7.0 innings in four of his last five starts. Bieber has been great on the road this season, as well. He has a 2.88 ERA and is 5-3 on the season. The Cleveland bullpen has also been one of the best in the league, as they have the sixth lowest overall team bullpen ERA. As a team, the Guardians are allowing 4.06 runs per game, which is the ninth least in the league.