Yankees take on the Royals in first of 4-game series

Kansas City Royals (39-59, fifth in the AL Central) vs. New York Yankees (66-33, first in the AL East)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Brady Singer (4-3, 3.94 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 81 strikeouts); Yankees: Jameson Taillon (10-2, 3.93 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 84 strikeouts)

LINE: Yankees -231, Royals +190; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The New York Yankees begin a four-game series at home against the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

New York is 66-33 overall and 37-12 in home games. The Yankees are 39-11 in games when they have more hits than their opponents.

Kansas City has a 17-29 record in road games and a 39-59 record overall. The Royals have a 14-9 record in games when they hit at least two home runs.

The teams meet Thursday for the fourth time this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Andrew Benintendi has a .320 batting average to rank 12th on the Yankees, and has 14 doubles, two triples and three home runs. Aaron Judge is 16-for-39 with seven home runs and 16 RBI over the past 10 games.

Hunter Dozier has 20 doubles, three triples and nine home runs for the Royals. Bobby Witt Jr. is 9-for-27 with a double and two home runs over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Yankees: 4-6, .270 batting average, 3.68 ERA, outscored opponents by 20 runs

Royals: 4-6, .279 batting average, 3.38 ERA, outscored by 10 runs

INJURIES: Yankees: Giancarlo Stanton: 10-Day IL (achilles), Michael King: 60-Day IL (elbow), Miguel Castro: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Luis Severino: 15-Day IL (lat), Chad Green: 60-Day IL (elbow), Ben Rortvedt: 60-Day IL (oblique), Stephen Ridings: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Zack Britton: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Royals: Vinnie Pasquantino: day-to-day (thumb), Angel Zerpa: 15-Day IL (knee), Bobby Witt Jr.: day-to-day (hamstring), Edward Olivares: 10-Day IL (quadricep), Daniel Lynch: 15-Day IL (blister), Jon Heasley: 15-Day IL (shoudler), Salvador Perez: 10-Day IL (thumb), Jake Brentz: 60-Day IL (flexor), Adalberto Mondesi: 60-Day IL (knee), Tyler Zuber: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

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