Game thread CLVI - Royals at Astros

The Royals, once again, will attempt to sweep the Astros. But first: who’s pitching?

Let’s get straight to it because the Chiefs are on at 4 and this game needs to go fast.

The Royals have won four series in a row, they’ve beaten the Astros four times out of the five games they’ve played this season. The only time they lost was a week ago when Jordan Lyles couldn’t keep things together. The Astros are getting desperate for wins because, as things stand, they’re a game and a half behind the Rangers for the division and only a half-game ahead of the Mariners for the final Wild Card spot. They were leading the division before the Royals came to town. It is also the last regular season game that the Astros will play at home, this season.

Today would have been Brady Singer’s spot in the rotation if the Royals hadn’t finally given in and placed him on the IL. Steven Cruz, pictured above, will be the opener for the third time since he was promoted to the big leagues. Your guess is as good as mine as to who will be pitching after him.

Well, that’s not entirely true. When Brad Keller and Singer went back on the IL, they called up a pair of pitchers from Omaha: Jonathan Bowlan and Anthony Veneziano. Neither has appeared in a game for KC, yet, so it seems reasonable to expect one or likely both of them to pitch today. Here’s hoping they pitch well and pitch fast so we can all happily flip our TVs over to the Chiefs game when the time comes without any regrets.

The lineup certainly seems unlikely to extend things or put up much of a fight.

Lineups