KANSAS CITY
Authentic Geron Christian Jersey , Mo. — These are fun times for the defending World Series champion Houston Astros and trying times for the Kansas City Royals.
The Astros will seek their 11th straight victory Sunday when they close out a three-game series in Kansas City. It will conclude a 10-game Astros road trip in which they have won the first nine, making it the most successful 10-game trip in franchise history. Their previous best was 8-2 last year. They have scored at least six runs in six consecutive games.
“We’re having a good time right now, obviously, we’re in a good stretch,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “And you have to enjoy the ups because there are a lot of times during the season where it can get frustrating.”
Dallas Keuchel picked up his first victory since May 13, allowing two unearned runs over six innings, while Max Stassi and Alex Bregman belted three-run homers as the Astros routed the Royals 10-2 on Saturday.
It has been an exasperating season for the Royals, who have lost five straight and 11 of 12. They are 2-12 in June, scoring 28 runs in 14 games. They fell to 10-25 at home.
They’ve also lost starting right fielder Jorge Soler for at least six weeks, probably longer, with a fractured left big toe.
“He had a CT scan that showed the crack isn’t big enough to warrant surgery right now,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “We’ll check again in 10 days to see how it’s doing.
“He was very disappointed, very upset last night. I’ve never seen him that upset, a lot of words in numerous languages coming out of his mouth. He knew something was wrong. He was putting together a really, really good, solid year where he’s getting a chance to play every day and was doing some nice things.”
With the Royals’ Triple-A Omaha club playing Friday night in Tacoma, Wash., plus the two-hour time change, they did not have time to get a body to Kansas City for an afternoon game. They will announce Soler’s roster replacement Sunday.
“We’re not the Enterprise, you can’t beam them up,” Yost said.
Meanwhile, first baseman Lucas Duda will join the Storm Chasers on Sunday in Reno to begin a minor league rehab assignment. Duda hit .256 with four home runs and 19 RBIs in 37 games before going on the disabled list May 14 with right foot plantar fasciitis.
Rookie right-hander Brad Keller will make his fourth career start and 25th appearance in the series finale. Keller, who is a Rule 5 draft pick from the Arizona Diamondbacks, is 1-2 with a 2.31 ERA.
Keller is coming off his longest major league start, going 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision last Sunday in Oakland against the A’s. He allowed two runs on five hits.
He has limited opposing hitters to 30 hits
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Keller will face the Astros for the first time. Two of his three starts have been against American League West opponents, posting a 2.79 ERA over 9 2/3 innings.
He ranks fourth among AL rookie pitchers with 24 appearances and an opponents’ batting average of .231.
He was primarily a starter in the minors. In 106 appearances, he made 100 starts, including the last 50, but had not pitched above Double-A before this year.
The Astros will counter with right-hander Lance McCullers, who is 8-3 with a 3.83 ERA in 14 starts. He has yielded 66 hits and 35 earned runs over 82 1/3 innings with 32 walks and 81 strikeouts.
McCullers, who has a career 27-19 record with a 3.64 ERA, is 1-0 with a 2.14 ERA in three career starts against the Royals. He had a 2.57 ERA in two no-decisions starts last season against Kansas City, allowing four runs on eight hits over 14 innings, while striking out 18 and walking two.
Salvador Perez has two hits, both home runs, in six at-bats against McCullers.
MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee’s Brent Suter will not start as scheduled Saturday when the Brewers continue their four-game series with the Atlanta Braves at Miller Park.
The left-hander was placed on the 10-day disabled list Friday with a strained left forearm, an issue he first reported after his last outing when he gave up five runs over five innings against the Reds on Monday.
Suter worked with the team’s medical staff over the last week but the issue didn’t resolve itself as they had hoped, so the decision was made to give the 28-year-old a break.
“We saw the doc and he was like, ‘Let’s just skip a start,'” Suter said. “It’s disappointing, for sure, but I’ll try to come back stronger. Our team is gelling so well right now that you want to be a part of it.”
Though forearm strains are often a precursor to significantly more serious issues, manager Craig Counsell was confident that the move was more precautionary than anything else and that Suter’s absence would be brief.
“You’re always cautious when a pitcher has a forearm injury, but at this point it’s a minor injury,” Counsell said. “I think it’s important we don’t let it become something big. That’s why we’re putting him on the DL.”
In 18 appearances this season, including a pair of relief outings, Suter is 8-5 with a 4.53 ERA. He allowed nine runs over his last two starts but was on a roll before that, going 6-1 with a 3.12 ERA in seven starts from May 18 to June 21.
“I was trying my best not to miss a start all year,” Suter said. “That was my No. 1 goal coming into the season
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With Suter out, the Brewers plan to recall right-hander Aaron Wilkerson from Triple-A Colorado Springs Saturday morning and send him to the mound Saturday afternoon.
Wilkerson, 29, reported to spring training with a chance at cracking Milwaukee’s Opening Day rotation but was optioned to Colorado Springs, where he was 2-2 with a 2.08 ERA in eight appearances, including seven starts, after opening the season on the disabled list.
Wilkerson was called up last weekend and worked three innings of relief against the Reds on Sunday, giving up five runs and taking the loss in his only major league appearance of the season. He was sent back to Colorado Springs the next day when the team promoted infielder Nate Orf.
“He’s on line and he’s ready to go,” Counsell said of Wilkerson, who will be starting in the big leagues for the first time since since the 2017 season finale, when he held the Cardinals to a run on two hits over seven innings, striking out five.
While Wilkerson gets his first start of the year, Braves right-hander Anibal Sanchez takes the ball for the 10th time in what’s been a pleasantly surprising season.
The veteran right-hander brings a 3-2 record and sparking 2.89 ERA into the contest and went 2-2 with a 2.48 mark in five June starts. His last outing in June was cut short by a sore calf, but he took his next turn on schedule, allowing three runs over six innings against the Yankees on Monday.
“Every day that I come here, I feel a blessing,” Sanchez told the Atlanta Journal Constitution before that outing. “I feel blessed to be here because I know how tough the offseason was for most of the players my age. I signed with the Twins, got released, got an opportunity here with another team that I liked. To be able to be in that position right now, with a team whose expectation was different than where we are right now.
“Now, for me, every outing is a challenge. I want to pitch for the team. I want to win for the team. I want to keep the team in first place. I want to be able to be healthy the rest of the season and help the team the most that I can and make the playoffs.”
Sanchez is 2-2 with a 6.37 ERA in eight career starts against the Brewers, but he has not faced them since 2015.
Prior to their loss Friday night, the Braves were the only team in baseball to lose no more than three games in a row this season. Their four-game losing streak is the longest since dropping six in a row September 25-30 of last season.
Konu Seçenekleri
