Today, the Royals take on the Rays in the last game of a three-game series, looking to avoid being swept for the fourth time this season. They have lost nine straight at home and will look to get their first win in the K since June. Kansas City is cold again, losing four straight, and the offense has only amassed four runs over the last four games. The offense is struggling, and once again, the Royals need to bounce back if they want to remain in the AL playoff race.

The pitching for Kansas City has been okay, although we have not seen the stellar performances we saw previously from the Royals’ pitching staff this season. The Royals have allowed 20 total runs in their last five games, which is not a terrible mark, but the offensive struggles have required perfect performances from their pitching staff as of late.

As of now, the Royals are just a half game ahead of the Twins and are 2.5 games behind the Guardians, who the Royals do not play again until late July. Detroit has run away with the division, sitting 11 games in front of the Royals and holding a record almost 20 games over .500. There is a significant part of the American League hovering around 40-40 as teams reach 80 games played and Kansas City will need to salvage this series to stay in the race.

Questions have been circling the Royals organization and what they will do at the trade deadline. Many fans want the Royals to be buyers at the deadline, looking to add talent, especially to one of the worst outfield rooms in the MLB. But the stretch before the All-Star break will be a big one for the Royals front office to decide how they want to handle this year’s deadline.

On the mound for the Royals today, Michael Lorenzen steps up looking to continue improving on his recent outings. Lorenzen has quality starts in two of his last three outings and came away with wins in three of his last four starts. Lorenzen has not had a scoreless outing since a seven-inning outing he gave in Boston back in early May. Both he and the Royals hope he can find that success again in his start today, where they need him most.

On the other side, 26-year-old Shane Baz takes the mound for the Rays, who will look to win their seventh straight game with Baz as the starter. Baz is coming off one of his best and worst starts of the year. On the 15th, Baz with 6.2 scoreless innings against the Mets, only allowing three hits. On the other hand, in his most recent start, against the Tigers, Baz got the win, but struggled, giving up five runs and four walks over 5.1 innings and 105 pitches. He was tagged for seven runs on 9 hits in his game against Kansas City on May 1st, and the Royals hope to find that success again today.

Baz has a good fastball/curveball combination that he leans on almost 75% of the time. Baz mixes in a changeup, slider, and cutter at times to keep hitters’ timing off, but primarily leans on his strong two-pitch mix. Kansas City found success looking for him to leave the fastball in the middle and tag him when he gives them a pitch to hit. In a game where the Royals desperately need a win, they hope they can tag Baz’s fastball early and often, the way they did earlier this year.

Salvy gets the day off for the Royals and Loftin moves into the five hole. Canha gets the DH spot and waters is in Center for the series finale. The offense will need a pop today to come away with a much needed win.

For the Rays, Matt Thaiss gets the start behind the plate and and Josh Lowe will be back in right. Yandy Diaz has been hot and gets the day off as a DH again today in the leadoff spot.