Royals at Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles could not step up to play spoiler last week against a pair of division rivals and are 1-12 in their last 13 games - all against winning teams. The Orioles get a bit of a break in the schedule this week when another team going through a down season, the Kansas City Royals, visits for the opener of a three-game series on Monday.
Baltimore was swept on a seven-game road trip against the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox last week while allowing an average of 8.4 runs, capped by a 13-7 setback at Fenway Park on Sunday. "We've got to stay together," Orioles first baseman Chris Davis told reporters after the latest loss. "I think that's the biggest thing for us on and off the field. The lack of communication, making the mistakes that we made today, we can't afford to do that. We've got to start pulling for one another, we've got to stay in it together, and we've got to keep going." The Royals are coming off a 1-4 homestand in which they scored one or no runs three times and struggled in their efforts to play spoiler in the National League while falling to the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets. Baltimore will try to keep the Kansas City offense down behind left-hander John Means while the Royals counter with righty Jorge Lopez on Monday.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, FS Kansas City, MASN 2 (Baltimore)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Royals RH Jorge Lopez (1-7, 6.51 ERA) vs. Orioles LH John Means (8-8, 3.76)
Lopez last worked on Aug. 8 at Detroit and failed to make it out of the second inning while getting knocked around for five runs - four earned - on two hits and three walks in 1 1/3 innings. The Puerto Rico native started in 11 of his 30 appearances this season and is 0-6 with a 7.59 ERA in that role. Lopez is seeing Baltimore for the first time this season and is 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA in 15 games - six starts - on the road.
Means failed to make it out of the fourth inning in any of his last three starts and was ripped for six runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 frames at New York on Tuesday. The 26-year-old watched his ERA balloon from 2.95 to 3.76 while surrendering a total of 13 runs in 10 2/3 innings over the rocky stretch. Means is making his first career appearance against Kansas City and is 6-3 with a 3.00 ERA at home in 2019.
WALK-OFFS
1. Orioles C Chance Sisco (groin) left Sunday's game and is day-to-day.
2. Kansas City INF Cheslor Cuthbert is 0-for-28 in his last seven games.
3. Baltimore LHP Paul Fry allowed five runs across 1 1/3 innings in the last two games.