Game 37 Open Thread - Royals vs. Mariners

The Kansas City Royals will look to bring a win home for their mother's and clinch their first winning west coast road trip since September 2011 when they face off Sunday afternoon against the Seattle Mariners.

Jeremy Guthrie will start the game for Kansas City. The veteran turned in a strong performance against the Padres earlier in the week, but has a 3.91 ERA with a 5.26 FIP on the season. Throwing in Safeco should help the pitch-to-contact extraordinaire keep the ball in the park today.

Roenis Elias will take the mound for Seattle. I have never seen Elias pitch and do not know a lot about him. Scott Strandberg of RotoGraphs wrote a nice profile piece on him, which you can read here if you want to learn more about Elias. The southpaw has battled command issues, posting a 11.1% BB%, but owns a 3.27 ERA with a 4.00 FIP through seven starts.

Ned Yost made some changes to the lineup today; Eric Hosmer is batting second, Danny Valencia is batting fourth and Brett Hayes is behind the plate. Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star brings us the batting order:

Muther Lineup: Aoki 9, Hosmer 3, Butler DH, Valencia 5, Gordon 7, Cain 8, Giavotella 4, Escobar 6, Hayes 2, Guthrie 1.

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) May 11, 2014

Kyle Seager is back in the Mariners lineup, while Michael Saunders is out with a knee injury. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweeted out the home team's starting nine:

Seager (flu) back in the lineup, Saunders (knee) out of the lineup . #Mariners pic.twitter.com/vASlQ9nhi3

— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) May 11, 2014

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there. You are all the best.