Royals at Yankees
The New York Yankees look to match their season best of three straight wins when they open a four-game series against the visiting Kansas City Royals on Thursday. New York completed a two-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday as Brett Gardner slugged a grand slam in the seventh inning to produce a 5-3 home victory.
Gardner's decisive blast was his third in six games and the 100th of his career as New York pulled within a game of the .500 mark. Clint Frazier continues to receive plenty of at-bats for the injury riddled Yankees and he went 3-for-4 with an RBI in Wednesday's victory. Kansas City has won four of its last six games after hot-hitting Hunter Dozier launched the tiebreaking homer in the 10th inning to deliver a 4-3 victory over the host Chicago White Sox. "Well, I've certainly failed enough in those situations," Dozier, who also hit a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh, told reporters, "so it's nice to start coming through."
TV: 6:35 p.m. ET, FS Kansas City, YES (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Royals RH Homer Bailey (1-1, 5.29 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Domingo German (3-0, 1.38)
Bailey was superb while defeating the Cleveland Indians in his last turn as he allowed just two hits while tossing seven shutout innings. The 32-year-old served up three homers in his previous turn when he was torched for seven runs and eight hits over five innings by the Seattle Mariners. Bailey is 1-1 with a 5.84 ERA in two career starts against the Yankees.
German has allowed just three hits in 13 innings while limiting opposing hitters to an .070 batting average. The 26-year-old pitched two innings of relief against the Chicago White Sox in his last appearance after recording wins as a starter over the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles. German is 4-4 with a 4.18 ERA in 16 appearances (eight starts) at Yankee Stadium.
WALK-OFFS
1. Yankees C Gary Sanchez (calf) said he expects to be in the lineup Sunday when he is eligible to be activated from the injured list.
2. Dozier has two or more hits in six of the past seven games and is 13-for-26 during the stretch.
3. New York INF DJ LeMahieu is 1-for-13 over the past three games as his average has decreased to .351.