Royals try to end road skid, face the Reds

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Kansas City Royals (22-37, fourth in the AL Central) vs. Cincinnati Reds (30-28, fifth in the NL Central)

Cincinnati; Monday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Luinder Avila (0-2, 5.06 ERA, 1.83 WHIP, 20 strikeouts); Reds: Chase Burns (7-1, 1.96 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 72 strikeouts)

LINE: Reds -199, Royals +165; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Kansas City Royals will look to break their three-game road slide in a matchup with the Cincinnati Reds.

Cincinnati has a 15-14 record in home games and a 30-28 record overall. Reds hitters have a collective .396 slugging percentage to rank sixth in the NL.

Kansas City is 22-37 overall and 7-20 on the road. The Royals have an 11-7 record in games when they did not give up a home run.

Monday's game is the first meeting between these teams this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Sal Stewart leads the Reds with 12 home runs while slugging .477. JJ Bleday is 13 for 40 with three home runs and seven RBIs over the past 10 games.

Bobby Witt Jr. has 15 doubles, a triple and nine home runs for the Royals. Maikel Garcia is 12 for 41 with two doubles over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Reds: 6-4, .254 batting average, 4.15 ERA, outscored opponents by four runs

Royals: 2-8, .219 batting average, 5.69 ERA, outscored by 30 runs

INJURIES: Reds: Elly De La Cruz: day-to-day (hamstring), Pierce Johnson: 15-Day IL (elbow), Graham Ashcraft: 60-Day IL (forearm), Rhett Lowder: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Ke'Bryan Hayes: 10-Day IL (back), Jose Trevino: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Brandon Williamson: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Emilio Pagan: 15-Day IL (hamstring), Hunter Greene: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Royals: Maikel Garcia: day-to-day (hamstring), Nick Mears: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Cole Ragans: 15-Day IL (elbow), James McArthur: 60-Day IL (elbow), Carlos Estevez: 15-Day IL (foot), Kris Bubic: 15-Day IL (elbow), Jonathan India: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Alec Marsh: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.