For the second game in a row, the Royals won with ninth-inning runs. Tonight, perhaps they can make things a little bit easier on those of us who already suffer from various heart, blood pressure, or anxiety diseases.<\/p>\n
Michael Wacha will take the mound for KC. His last start, against Texas<\/a>, didn\u2019t go so great. He allowed 6 runs in only 5 innings. He didn\u2019t face the Twins in their earlier series this year, but he faced them three times last year. Unfortunately, those numbers weren\u2019t great, either. He pitched a total of 16 innings and allowed 7 runs with 6 walks and only 10 strikeouts. His final start wasn\u2019t bad, though, allowing only a single run in 5.2 innings.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n He will be countered by Zebby Matthews<\/a> of the Twins. Zebby has a career 5.71 ERA, and he\u2019s having his best big league season yet with a 4.63 ERA, though he\u2019s giving up almost 2 home runs per 9 innings. He spent the beginning of the season in the minors, but returned to the bigs in May and will be making his sixth start tonight.<\/p>\n Zebby throws six pitches, and 5 of them at least 8% of the time. It all comes down to his slider, though, the only truly effective pitch he has to offer. That single pitch has a 41.7% chase rate and 41% whiff rate, both of which are elite. Oddly, he still chooses to throw it only 18.1% of the time, but throws his four-seam fastball more than twice as often at 39.9% of the time. The fastball is almost never missed when swung at, and it can get hit hard. So the Royals should probably be focusing there.<\/p>\n Lineups<\/p>\n The Royals will continue using Carter Jensen<\/a> in the leadoff spot. He hasn\u2019t been particularly good there, but the team has actually been scoring runs since the adjustment was made. Maikel Garcia<\/a> is still out of the starting lineup. He pinch hit last night, but didn\u2019t look great doing it and once he took the walk, he was immediately lifted for a pinch runner.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n As for the Twins, they have a lineup full of nobodies and Royal killers. Byron Buxton<\/a> is good against everyone but saves some of his best work for KC. Kody Clemens<\/a> has hit more than 1\/5 of his career home runs against KC including two last night. Luke Keaschall<\/a> looked like he was going to be a super star late last summer against KC but has been something less than mediocre to start the year. Austin Martin<\/a> would be a below-average hitter if he hadn\u2019t been able face the Royals a few times.<\/p>\n