After losing 2 of 3 against the Brewers, the Royals now take a short road trip to Cleveland early this week before returning home to face the White Sox later this week. The weather will be pretty cold in Cleveland for this series, so they’ve already moved tomorrow’s game up in time to be during the day. Max’s got you covered with the series preview here.
The Guardians enter the series leading the AL Central with a 6-4 record, with the Royals right behind at 4-5 (also tied with White Sox and Tigers).
Their offense so far has basically just been Chase DeLauter and no one else. They’ve made it this far on the backs of their normal crap – a bunch of dudes at starting pitcher I’ve never heard of throwing average-ish or better ball. It’s such a house of cards team (cue “he can’t keep getting away with this” gif).
Having said that, Tanner Bibee gets the start for the Guardians today. I’ve heard of him. He’s thrown only nine innings across two starts so far – he gave up three homers in the first start against Seattle. He’s mostly a fastball/changeup guy, with variations. He throws a cutter, four seam, and sinker for the harder pitches, although at 86-87mph his cutter isn’t really a fast pitch. It is the one he throws the most though.
Michael Wacha gets the start for the Royals. Wacha was originally going to pitch on Friday against the Brewers, but he was scratched due to illness and the game was postponed anyway. As a result, we’ve seen Wacha only once so far this season, against the Braves. He threw six innings of shutout ball with seven strikeouts. I’d take that again today.
The game starts at 5:10pm US Central time. You can watch the game on Royals.tv or listen on 96.5 The Fan/Royals Radio Network. Or both! Both is good.
Lineups:
