Looking to break out of yet another long losing streak, the Minnesota Twins will continue their ten-game road trip in Kansas City with a four-game series that will start Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium against the Royals.
The Twins and Royals have met five times this season, with the Royals winning the last four after a 4-3 Minnesota victory at Target Field back on April 12, with the last two Kansas City victories have coming by a combined score of 21-5. The Twins have not won a series of three games or longer all season, while the Royals have not won a series since a three-game set against the New York Yankees back on May 10-12. Minnesota has also lost ten of their last twelve ball games, while the Royals have dropped thirteen of their last eighteen.
The pitching match-up for Thursday night's game will feature two young right-handers. The Royals will send Sean O'Sullivan (2-4, 6.75 ERA) to the mound this evening. O'Sullivan is 0-2 with an ERA of 13.80 in his last three starts. In his last outing, he got lit up by the Texas Rangers, allowing ten runs on fifteen hits in 5.2 innings of work in a 10-1 Kansas City loss to the Texas Rangers on Saturday.
The Twins will counter with right-hander Anthony Swarzak (0-2, 3.60 ERA). Swarzak was brilliant in his last start against the Los Angeles Angels, when he was plugged in for Francisco Liriano when Liriano experienced soreness in his shoulder. All Swarzak did in a pinch was throw 7.1 no-hit innings, and eight shutout innings total. Sadly, since this is the Twins' offense, he got a no-decision in a game the Twins wound up winning 1-0 in ten innings.
The first pitch from Kauffman Stadium is scheduled for 7:10 PM Central time. You can follow all of the in-game action with the Game Thread over at Twinkie Town, and be sure to come back here for your recap when everything is all said and done.