Inside The Royals

Royals Trying To Avoid Sweep in Game Three vs. Guardians

Brad Keller takes the mound as KC tries to win at least one game in Cleveland.
Jordan Foote|
Royals Trying To Avoid Sweep in Game Three vs. Guardians
Royals Trying To Avoid Sweep in Game Three vs. Guardians

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Kansas City Royals

The losses keep piling up for the Kansas City Royals, and they've now won exactly a third of their games in the 2022 season.

On Tuesday night, things didn't get better for the Royals. They scored three runs for the third straight game and in the process, they dropped their third-consecutive contest. In an 8-3 defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Guardians, Kansas City's bats simply weren't good enough to overcome starter Daniel Lynch allowing a staggering nine hits and six runs across four innings of work. 

On Wednesday, the Royals are back at Progressive Field and will be looking to avoid a sweep against the Guardians. After the outing, they'll head back to Kansas City for a day off before hosting the Houston Astros at Kauffman Stadium. Probable starters for the series opener and the finale are Brady Singer and Jonathan Heasley, although the Royals have yet to list a projected starter for Saturday's contest as of the publishing of this article. 

Here's how the Royals will line up in this afternoon's game:

Starting Pitchers

Kansas City: RHP Brad Keller (1-5, 3.95 ERA)
Cleveland: LHP Konnor Pilkington (0-0, 3.75 ERA)

Kansas City Royals Starting Lineup

  1. Whit Merrifield (R) - CF
  2. Andrew Benintendi (L) - LF
  3. Bobby Witt Jr. (R) - SS
  4. Salvador Perez (R) - DH
  5. MJ Melendez (L) - C
  6. Hunter Dozier (R) - RF
  7. Carlos Santana (S) - 1B
  8. Emmanuel Rivera (R) - 3B
  9. Nicky Lopez (L) - 2B

Carlos Santana returns to lineup after day off

After both Ryan O'Hearn and Carlos Santana were absent from Tuesday's lineup, the latter is returning to his first base spot for Wednesday. It's been a very rough season for Santana as in 35 games, he's slashing just .150/.287/.242 with a wRC+ of 60. He's still drawing walks at an elite rate and not striking out a ton, but his power has evaporated and he doesn't bring much defensive value nor baserunning ability to the table, either. Santana is making a hefty chunk of change to play for the Royals, and that seems to be the only reason why he remains in the lineup. He'll look to have a resurgent game in the club's series finale against his old team.

Brad Keller looking to get back on track

After being quite literally one of the best starting pitchers in all of baseball to begin the season, Brad Keller's last four starts have seen him come crashing back down to earth. Over that span, he's allowed 19 runs (18 earned) and five home runs while pitching to the tune of a 6.85 ERA. Keller hasn't had much of an issue going deep in games despite his struggles and the overall season stats remain solid, but it's been a tale of two halves thus far. He'll complete start No. 10 on Wednesday, and both he and the Royals will hope for a better outcome this time around.

Follow Along

First Pitch: 12:10 p.m. CST
TV: Bally Sports Kansas City
Radio: KCSP 610 AM

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Published
Jordan Foote
JORDAN FOOTE

Jordan Foote is the editor-in-chief of Inside the Royals, as well as the deputy editor of Arrowhead Report and a producer for Kansas City Sports Network. Jordan is a Baker University alumnus, earning his degree in Mass Media with a minor in Sports Administration. Follow him on Twitter @footenoted.

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