Phillies at Royals
Alex Gordon continues to enjoy an outstanding start for the Kansas City Royals, who have a chance to claim a series win for the first time in nearly a month when they continue a three-game set with the visiting Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday. Gordon homered twice and drove in three runs to lead the Royals to a 5-1 victory in the opener of the interleague set Friday night.
The 35-year-old Gordon, who hit a combined .225 over the last three years, has his average up to .291 with eight homers in 2019. Jorge Soler also went deep for his team-leading 10th home run for Kansas City, which has not won a series since it swept three straight against Cleveland from April 12-14. Bryce Harper had a single, three walks and a run scored in the series opener for the Phillies. Philadelphia will give the ball Saturday to surging right-hander Zach Eflin, who will try to stretch his winning streak to three in a row when he opposes Brad Keller of the Royals.
TV: 7:15 p.m. ET, NBCS Philadelphia, FS Kansas City
PITCHING MATCHUP: Phillies RH Zach Eflin (4-3, 3.00 ERA) vs. Royals RH Brad Keller (2-3, 3.99)
Eflin notched his third career complete game -- first since 2016 -- two starts ago against Miami and then followed it up with seven innings of one-run ball in a win over Washington. He has walked two while allowing 11 hits in the 16 innings over those two outings. The 25-year-old has a 6.10 ERA in seven career interleague starts but dominated Minnesota through seven innings April 7 in his first outing against an AL team this year.
After giving up five runs in back-to-back starts, Keller yielded just two in 5 1/3 innings at Detroit on Sunday, although he tied a season high with five walks. The Georgia native is 7-2 with a 3.02 ERA in 24 career games (14 starts) at home. He will be facing the Phillies for the first time.
WALK-OFFS
1. Soler is 11-for-26 with three homers and six RBIs over his last seven games.
2. Phillies INF Scott Kingery (hamstring) could begin a rehab assignment on Monday.
3. Gordon's second homer in Friday's win made him the sixth player to record 1,500 hits in a Kansas City uniform.