Having lost back-to-back games for the first time in nearly a month, the Kansas City Royals will try to keep that skid brief by continuing their success against the Minnesota Twins.
The Kansas City Royals hope to avoid their longest losing streak in over a month tonight as the American League Central leaders open a three-game set with the last-place Minnesota Twins.
In Tonight's series opener, the AL Central leaders will also get to face Ricky Nolasco, who was lackluster against Kansas City in his return from the disabled list less than two weeks ago.
The Royals were bested 8-1 on Monday by the New York Yankees in a makeup game, giving them two losses in a row for the first time since July 27-29. They have not lost three consecutive contests since a four-game slide from July 18-21.
Kansas City took three of four in Minnesota from Aug. 15-18 during a 24-6 stretch that proceeded the back-to-back losses. They also won two of three at Kauffman Stadium against the Twins during that stretch.
The Royals lead the Detroit Tigers by 1 1/2 games in the division and turn to Danny Duffy this evening.
Duffy will face the Twins for the sixth time in 2014 and for the fourth time as a starter in that span. He is 2-0 with a 1.71 ERA versus Minnesota this year and recently beat the club on Aug. 15 after yielding two earned runs over 5 1/3 frames.
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Minnesota enters this series having dropped 22 of 36 but has won 11 of 19 on the road.
The Twins, who are 14 games behind the Royals in the standings, counter with the disappointing Ricky Nolasco, who has lost a pair of starts since coming off the disabled list.
Sidelined by an elbow issue, the 31-year-old righty yielded five runs over six innings in a setback to the Royals on Aug. 15, then allowed four runs in 6 2/3 frames of action against Cleveland on Wednesday.
The Twins hit the road following a 4-7 homestand. They lost the final two contests of that residency to Detroit, including Sunday's 13-4 loss.
Kyle Gibson was drilled for five runs over 4 2/3 frames in taking the loss.
The Royals are 9-7 versus the Twins this season.
