Guardians play the Royals in first of 4-game series

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Kansas City Royals (73-70, second in the AL Central) vs. Cleveland Guardians (72-70, third in the AL Central)

Cleveland; Monday, 6:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Ryan Bergert (2-1, 2.61 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 65 strikeouts); Guardians: Slade Cecconi (5-6, 4.78 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 91 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Guardians -120, Royals -100; over/under is 8 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Cleveland Guardians begin a four-game series at home against the Kansas City Royals on Monday.

Cleveland has a 72-70 record overall and a 35-33 record at home. The Guardians have a 42-9 record in games when they scored five or more runs.

Kansas City is 73-70 overall and 33-35 on the road. The Royals are 41-14 in games when they did not give up a home run.

The teams square off Monday for the 10th time this season. The Guardians lead the season series 5-4.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jose Ramirez has a .283 batting average to lead the Guardians, and has 27 doubles, three triples and 27 home runs. Steven Kwan is 14 for 43 with six RBIs over the past 10 games.

Vinnie Pasquantino leads the Royals with 29 home runs while slugging .470. Michael Massey is 11 for 30 with two doubles and two RBIs over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Guardians: 6-4, .229 batting average, 3.72 ERA, outscored opponents by seven runs

Royals: 5-5, .233 batting average, 3.10 ERA, outscored opponents by eight runs

INJURIES: Guardians: Nic Enright: 15-Day IL (elbow), Lane Thomas: 10-Day IL (foot), Will Brennan: 60-Day IL (forearm), Andrew Walters: 60-Day IL (lat), Ben Lively: 60-Day IL (forearm), John Means: 60-Day IL (elbow), Sam Hentges: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

Royals: Bobby Witt Jr.: day-to-day (back), Seth Lugo: 15-Day IL (back), Jonathan India: 10-Day IL (wrist), Bailey Falter: 15-Day IL (biceps), Hunter Harvey: 15-Day IL (abductor), Steven Cruz: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Kris Bubic: 60-Day IL (rotator cuff), Cole Ragans: 60-Day IL (rotator cuff), Alec Marsh: 60-Day IL (shoulder), James McArthur: 60-Day IL (elbow)

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