Game nineteen: Texas Rangers at Kansas City Royals

Kansas City will take on Texas this afternoon at Kauffman Stadium, hoping to avoid being swept at home for the third time this season. This is already the last game these two teams will play against each other this season, with the Rangers having already won four of the five matchups to secure the season series. But hey, the last time the Royals won a game was the last time I covered the game, so there’s that at least.

Brady Singer will take the ball for the Royals. He hasn’t been especially sharp this season. I’ll have more on him in a piece probably later this week but suffice to say he’s been missing over the middle of the plate too often and just hasn’t gotten away with any mistakes. Here’s hoping he gets on track today.

Martín Pérez starts for Texas. He was a mediocre big league starter for parts of ten seasons before randomly putting together a good enough 2022 to make his first All-Star team. The last time I watched Pérez pitch, he was wearing a Team Venezuela uniform and got rocked by Team USA. Anyway, he has a 2.87 ERA in three starts this season, but peripherals that indicate his 2012-2021 seasons are much more indicative of his true talent level than his 2022 (shocking, I know).

This is the most favorable starting pitching matchup the Royals have had since probably the San Francisco series. Additionally, FanGraphs gives the Royals their highest pre-game win probability they’ve had all season at 57.9%. The time to snap the losing streak is now.

First pitch: 1:10 pm CDT

Royals lineup

Rangers lineup