Game forty-nine: Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Guardians

The Cleveland River Fires welcome the Kansas City Walkway Collapses with a chance to sweep the three-game set. These teams are both pretty bad and have offered very few reasons to watch them, yet here we are.

Brad Keller will start for Kansas City. He had that excellent start to the season, but the lack of strikeouts has been catching up to him as his BABIP and HR/FB numbers normalize. He’s posted a 6.85 ERA and 5.68 FIP in his last four starts. His previous start against Minnesota was his worst of the season, as he allowed six earnies off 11 hits in four innings, with two of those hits going over the fence. Keller has made one start against Cleveland this year, in the second game of the season, throwing six shutty in a dominant effort.

Konnor Pilkington - a name that sounds like a villain in a teen dystopian novel - will take the mound for Cleveland. He has pitched sporadically in the majors this year with three relief appearances in April and two starts in May. In his two starts, he’s gone a total of seven innings with lots of hits, lots of walks, and lots of strikeouts.

The Royals will be happy to see the calendar turn to June. The Royals went just 9-20 in May, with only Miami winning fewer games. The offense actually put together a solid month with a 104 team wRC+, thanks in large part to the performance of rookies Bobby Witt Jr, MJ Melendez, and Emmanuel Rivera. The pitching, however, was a disaster; the staff ERA of 5.62 and FIP of 4.97 were both the worst in the majors.

A loss today would be the fifth time this season Kansas City has been swept. It would also give Kansas City its fifth separate losing streak of at least four games this season. Try the new wagyu burger at Arby’s.

First Pitch: 12:10pm CDT

Royals Lineup

Guardians Lineup