By The Associated Press
The Tampa Bay Rays play the Kansas City Royals looking to break a four-game home slide.
Kansas City Royals (32-19, second in the AL Central) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (25-26, fourth in the AL East)
St. Petersburg, Florida; Friday, 6:50 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Seth Lugo (7-1, 1.79 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 58 strikeouts); Rays: Shawn Armstrong (1-1, 4.03 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 26 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Royals -116, Rays -104; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Rays play the Kansas City Royals looking to break a four-game home losing streak.
Tampa Bay is 25-26 overall and 14-15 in home games. The Rays are 11-2 in games when they did not allow a home run.
Kansas City is 11-11 in road games and 32-19 overall. Royals hitters have a collective .310 on-base percentage, the sixth-ranked percentage in the AL.
The matchup Friday is the first meeting of the season between the two clubs.
TOP PERFORMERS: Isaac Paredes has eight doubles and nine home runs while hitting .308 for the Rays. Josh Lowe is 8-for-37 with three doubles and two home runs over the last 10 games.
Salvador Perez ranks second on the Royals with 20 extra base hits (11 doubles and nine home runs). Michael Massey is 12-for-37 with three doubles, two home runs and seven RBI over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES:
Rays: 5-5, .219 batting average, 4.15 ERA, outscored by eight runs
Royals: 8-2, .281 batting average, 3.17 ERA, outscored opponents by 25 runs
INJURIES:
Rays: Josh Lowe: day-to-day (side), Zach Eflin: 15-Day IL (back), Jacob Waguespack: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Chris Devenski: 15-Day IL (knee), Colin Poche: 15-Day IL (back), Taylor Walls: 60-Day IL (hip), Jeffrey Springs: 60-Day IL (elbow), Drew Rasmussen: 60-Day IL (elbow), Shane McClanahan: 60-Day IL (forearm)