Houston @ Kansas City preview
Kauffman Stadium
Last Meeting ( Sep 1, 2024 ) Kansas City 2, Houston 7
A pair of American League clubs fresh off completing three-game sweeps will meet Friday when the Kansas City Royals host the Houston Astros.
Kansas City has won four games in a row and is coming off a sweep of the Colorado Rockies, including both ends of a doubleheader on Thursday. Royals catcher Salvador Perez tallied five hits across the two victories, while Kansas City's bullpen combined to hurl nine innings of one-run ball.
"We talk about it all the time. You can only win one at a time, but when you stack three at a time, that's the best you can do," Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. "I'm really happy for the guys. They played well (Thursday)."
Looking to extend the Royals' longest winning streak of the young season, veteran right-hander Seth Lugo (1-3, 3.90 ERA) gets the start in the series opener. He has lost his last three starts.
Following his first All-Star appearance in 2024, the 35-year-old Lugo has allowed five home runs in his last two starts -- including four to the host New York Yankees on April 14. Last time out, he surrendered three runs over 6 2/3 innings as the Royals fell 3-1 to the host Detroit Tigers.
Despite the team's lack of success in Lugo's recent starts, Quatraro shows no signs of concern.
"Any miss Lugo had was a small miss. His stuff looked good," Quatraro said after Lugo's last appearance. "He gets a lot of weak contact, weak fly balls. We just know he's going to continue to be solid for us."
Lugo is 1-2 with a 5.24 ERA in four career starts against Houston.
The Astros won five of six on their recent homestand, and they are coming off a three-game blitz of the Toronto Blue Jays. Houston outscored Toronto 15-2 across the midweek set, including Wednesday's 3-1 victory.
"It all starts with our pitching," Astros manager Joe Espada said. "We're pitching really, really well right now. Our offense is starting to come around, but the pitching and defense did a really good job this series. It was a great homestand."
Houston shortstop Jeremy Pena will aim to extend his career-best 14-game hitting streak on Friday after tallying five hits in the Toronto series. Pena's 22 hits on the season trail only Jose Altuve's 29 for the team lead.
Right-hander Hayden Wesneski (1-1, 3.91) will make his fifth start with Houston after being acquired in December in a trade package that sent Kyle Tucker to the Chicago Cubs.
Wesneski, 27, allowed two earned runs over five innings in a no-decision against the San Diego Padres on Saturday. Friday marks his first career appearance against Kansas City.
The Astros have dropped five of their last six games at Kansas City, including a three-game sweep at Kauffman Stadium in April 2024.
--Field Level Media