It’s the opening game of an interleague set between a pair of teams with different situations on the diamond in the Midwest. The Los Angeles Dodgers are on the road as they kick off a three-game series with the Kansas City Royals Friday night. Los Angeles swept a two-game interleague set at home from the Twins as they picked up an 8-5 victory in the finale Wednesday night. Kansas City closed a four-game series at home with the White Sox Thursday afternoon and took three of four after prevailing 5-3 in the finale. The Dodgers have won five of the last six meetings between the teams, including a three-game sweep at home in the most recent series from July 7-9, 2017.
Los Angeles ran their win streak to 10 games as they won for the 13th time in 14 contests with a win at home over the Twins. The Dodgers entered Thursday holding a 16-game lead over the Padres in the NL West race. They were five games ahead of the Mets for the top record in the National League, which would grant home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Los Angeles got two hits from Trea Turner (two runs, RBI) and Freddie Freeman to lead their 10-hit attack in the contest. Joey Gallo (his 13th, first with the Dodgers), Chris Taylor (his seventh) and Max Muncy (his 13th) each homered in the victory for the Dodgers. Ryan Pepiot didn’t factor in the decision as he threw 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts. David Price (1-0) threw a perfect sixth, striking out one, to earn the win in relief.
Tony Gonsolin is on the hill for the Dodgers as he makes his 21st start of the season in this contest in the series opener. He comes in 13-1 with a 2.30 ERA, a 0.894 WHIP, 29 walks and 102 strikeouts over 109.2 innings of work on the season. Gonsolin earned the win in his last start, which came last Friday at home against the Padres. He threw five innings, allowing no runs on three hits with one walk and six strikeouts in an 8-1 Dodgers victory. In his last three starts, Gonsolin is 2-1 with a 3.94 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP, five walks and 16 strikeouts over 16 innings of work. This marks his 56th career major league appearance and 48th start: he pitches against the Royals for the first time here. As a result, Gonsolin pitches at Kauffman Stadium for the first time in his major league career as well in this contest.