Lynch expected to start as Kansas City hosts Oakland

Oakland Athletics (78-67, second in the AL West) vs. Kansas City Royals (66-79, fourth in the AL Central)

Kansas City, Missouri; Thursday, 2:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Athletics: Paul Blackburn (0-2, 5.24 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 15 strikeouts) Royals: Daniel Lynch (4-4, 5.33 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 44 strikeouts)

LINE: Royals +107, Athletics -125; over/under is 9 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Oakland Athletics travel to play the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

The Royals are 35-36 on their home turf. Kansas City has a team on-base percentage of .304, led by Nicky Lopez with a mark of .369.

The Athletics are 38-33 on the road. Oakland has a collective .239 this season, led by Starling Marte with an average of .316.

The Athletics won the last meeting 12-10. Sean Manaea earned his 10th victory and Matt Olson went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI for Oakland. Carlos Hernandez registered his second loss for Kansas City.

TOP PERFORMERS: Salvador Perez leads the Royals with 44 home runs and has 110 RBI.

Olson leads the Athletics with 67 extra base hits and 101 RBI.

LAST 10 GAMES: Royals: 6-4, .288 batting average, 4.75 ERA, outscored opponents by six runs

Athletics: 4-6, .269 batting average, 6.52 ERA, outscored by six runs

INJURIES: Royals: Mike Minor: (shoulder), Richard Lovelady: (elbow), Brad Keller: (shoulder), Jakob Junis: (shoulder), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Wade Davis: (shoulder), Cam Gallagher: (knee).

Athletics: Trevor Rosenthal: (chest), Mike Fiers: (right elbow), Chris Bassitt: (face), Stephen Piscotty: (wrist), Matt Chapman: (shin), Mitch Moreland: (wrist).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.