Kansas City @ Baltimore preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 11, 2015 ) Kansas City 8, Baltimore 14

The American League Central-leading Kansas City Royals are just trying to iron out some kinks on their way to the playoffs, and the pitching staff is one area they are hoping to improve. The Royals will try get some length out of their starting pitcher by swapping Johnny Cueto and Yordano Ventura when they visit the Baltimore Orioles for the middle contest of their three-game series on Saturday.

Cueto has struggled of late, losing each of his last four starts, and was given the option of starting Saturday's afternoon game or the night contest on Sunday, and the All-Star chose to go at night. "It's all about getting (Cueto) comfortable and getting him going in a good direction," Kansas City manager Ned Yost told reporters. "Yordano was OK with it. He doesn't care.” The Royals got a solid start on Friday from Danny Duffy, who allowed two runs in five innings and left with a lead before watching the bullpen implode in a 14-8 loss in the series opener. The Orioles, who need all the runs they can get to back the struggling Chris Tillman, hit a pair of grand slams among four homers en route to their third straight win.

TV: 1:05 p.m. ET, FOX

PITCHING MATCHUP: Royals RH Yordano Ventura (10-8, 4.34 ERA) vs. Orioles RH Chris Tillman (9-11, 5.15)

Ventura had a string of eight straight starts without a loss come to an end when he was charged with four runs on eight hits and five walks in 5 1/3 innings against Minnesota on Monday. The 24-year-old allowed a total of four runs in 32 frames over his previous five outings. One of those came against Baltimore on Aug. 27, when Ventura struck out 11 and scattered two hits over six scoreless innings to earn the win.

Tillman is one of several reasons the Orioles have dropped out of the wild-card race over the last few weeks and is 0-4 with an 8.85 ERA in his last four starts. The worst of the bunch came at Toronto on Sunday, when the 27-year-old was lit up for six runs and eight hits – three homers – in three innings. Tillman lasted six frames against Ventura on Aug. 27 but was charged with four runs and nine hits to fall to 2-3 with a 6.17 ERA in six career starts against Kansas City.

WALK-OFFS

1. Orioles C Matt Wieters (wrist) had an MRI come back clean and could return to the starting lineup on Saturday.

2. Kansas City has dropped six of seven but still sits 10 games ahead of Minnesota in the AL Central.

3. Baltimore C Steve Clevenger and OF Nolan Reimold each hit a grand slam during a 10-run eighth inning on Friday.

PREDICTION: Royals 8, Orioles 3