Game One Hundred and Twenty-Seven: Los Angeles Angels at Kansas City Royals

A series win would be lovely.

The Kansas City Royals are taking on the Los Angeles Anaheim Angels of Anaheim, California this evening at Kauffman Stadium. In a weird scheduling quirk, every Wednesday home game post All-Star break for the Royals is a night game to conclude a three-game series, followed by an off-day. They had no such games before the break.

Michael Lorenzen will start for Kansas City. Lorenzen has been great in three starts for the Royals if you only look at his 2.87 ERA. His FIP is 4.75, however, driven by his dismal 6.1% K-BB%. He got knocked around in his last start against the Angels, surrendering five runs in five innings on July 10.

Los Angeles will counter with old friend Johnny Cueto. Cueto spent the latter part of the 2023 season as an ineffective member of Miami’s starting rotation. He started this season in Triple-A for the Rangers and struggled before being released. The Angels picked him up near the end of July and he pitched well enough in four starts for Salt Lake to get the call. His stuff isn’t what it once was, but he has a deep arsenal and throws plenty of strikes with his funky delivery. Cueto last pitched against Kansas City in September 2022 as a member of the White Sox, tossing 5.1 innings of one-run ball.

First pitch: 7:10 pm CDT

Royals lineup

Angels lineup