Game One Hundred and Nine: New York Mets at Kansas City Royals

The Metropolitans of Queens will take on the Royalty of East Kansas City this evening at Kauffman Stadium. Kansas City has won four straight games, twice as many as their longest winning streak of the season prior to this one. They will look to extend that streak to five games, as well as to win consecutive series for the first time this year.

Cole Ragans draws the start for the home side. Ragans has made just one start for the Royals since being acquired in the Aroldis Chapman deal, tossing five innings of one-run ball against Tampa Bay a few weeks ago. He has made two starts in Triple-A since then, going four innings with four runs allowed in one and five shutout in the next. He walked eight batters over those two starts.

Taking the mound for New York will be Kodai Senga. Senga has adapted quite quickly to the rigors of playing major league baseball in his first season away from NPB. He sports a solid 3.17 ERA and 3.79 FIP in 19 starts and has been basically the only member of the Mets rotation that hasn’t been monumentally disappointing. He misses plenty of bats with his devastating “ghost fork” splitter, but he also misses the zone often with the third-highest walk rate among all pitchers with at least 100 IP. Senga has been especially sharp since the weather warmed up, throwing to a 2.53 ERA and 3.36 FIP over his last ten starts.

First pitch: 7:10 pm CDT

Royals lineup

Mets lineup