THREE-GAME SERIES AT KAUFMANN STADIUM
Monday, 7:10 p.m. • FSN 1500-AM
RHP Cole De Vries (0-1, 2.70 ERA) vs. LHP Will Smith (1-1, 6.75)
Tuesday, 7:10 p.m. • FSN 1500-AM
LHP Francisco Liriano (1-5, 7.20) vs. LH Bruce Chen (4-5, 4.86)
Wednesday, 7:10 p.m. • FSN 1500-AM
TBA vs. RH Felipe Paulino (3-1, 1.70)
TWINS UPDATE
The Twins are 1-1 against the Royals this year and won the season series last year 10-8. De Vries tossed five scoreless innings against Oakland in his last start, despite allowing five walks. He showed much better control for Class AAA Rochester before his promotion, so the Twins want to see him attack the strike zone more. ... Liriano followed De Vries with six shutout innings against Oakland last Wednesday. The lefthander threw 88 pitches in that outing -- 42 more than he had thrown over the previous 23 days -- so it'll be interesting to see how he bounces back this time. Last Thursday's off day gave him an extra day of rest between starts.
ROYALS UPDATE
After a 3-14 start, including an astounding 0-10 start at home, the Royals are 20-15 in their past 35 games. ... Their best hitter has been Billy Butler. Felipe Paulino has been their best pitcher. Eric Hosmer has been a disappointment, but he takes a six-game hitting streak into this series and homered Sunday. ... Will Smith held Cleveland to two runs over six innings in an 8-2 victory on Tuesday in his second career start. The lefthander isn't viewed as one of the Royals' best prospects. He's got back-of-the-rotation stuff, but he is getting a chance with Danny Duffy out because of a season-ending elbow injury.
JOE CHRISTENSEN
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