Yankees face Royals, aim to build on Cole's strong performance

Kansas City Royals (33-38, third in the AL Central) vs. New York Yankees (38-34, third in the AL East)

New York; Wednesday, 7:05 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Danny Duffy (4-3, 0.00 ERA) Yankees: Michael King (0-3, 4.08 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 29 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: New York heads into the matchup after a strong showing by Gerrit Cole. Cole went seven innings, surrendering two runs on three hits with six strikeouts against Kansas City.

The Yankees are 19-18 on their home turf. The New York pitching staff averages 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings, Gerrit Cole leads them with a mark of 11.5.

The Royals have gone 15-19 away from home. Kansas City is slugging .390 as a unit. Salvador Perez leads the team with a slugging percentage of .530.

The Royals won the last meeting 6-5. Jake Brentz earned his second victory and Ryan O'Hearn went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI for Kansas City. Jonathan Loaisiga registered his third loss for New York.

TOP PERFORMERS: Aaron Judge leads the Yankees with 24 extra base hits and is batting .279.

Perez leads the Royals with 80 hits and is batting .287.

LAST 10 GAMES: Yankees: 5-5, .228 batting average, 4.89 ERA, outscored by four runs

Royals: 3-7, .260 batting average, 5.98 ERA, outscored by 21 runs

INJURIES: Yankees: Justin Wilson: (hamstring), Luis Severino: (elbow), Clarke Schmidt: (elbow), Darren O'Day: (rotator cuff), Corey Kluber: (shoulder), Aaron Hicks: (left wrist).

Royals: Daniel Tillo: (undisclosed), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Danny Duffy: (forearm), Ronald Bolanos: (flexor), Andrew Benintendi: (rib), Adalberto Mondesi: (oblique), Cam Gallagher: (shoulder).

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