Garcia expected to start as Houston hosts Kansas City

Kansas City Royals (56-68, fourth in the AL Central) vs. Houston Astros (73-52, first in the AL West)

Houston; Tuesday, 8:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Brady Singer (3-8, 5.24 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 100 strikeouts) Astros: Luis Garcia (9-6, 3.32 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 137 strikeouts)

LINE: Astros -234, Royals +193; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Houston and Kansas City will face off on Tuesday.

The Astros are 39-25 on their home turf. The Houston pitching staff averages 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings, Zack Greinke leads them with a mark of 6.3.

The Royals have gone 24-37 away from home. Kansas City has a team on-base percentage of .303, led by Nicky Lopez with a mark of .350.

The Royals won the last meeting 7-1. Daniel Lynch notched his fourth victory and Whit Merrifield went 3-for-5 with a double, a triple and three RBI for Kansas City. Greinke took his fourth loss for Houston.

TOP PERFORMERS: Yordan Alvarez leads the Astros with 50 extra base hits and is batting .285.

Salvador Perez leads the Royals with 52 extra base hits and 81 RBI.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 4-6, .292 batting average, 3.64 ERA, outscored opponents by 17 runs

Royals: 7-3, .295 batting average, 3.36 ERA, outscored opponents by 11 runs

INJURIES: Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Jose Urquidy: (arm), Andre Scrubb: (shoulder), Enoli Paredes: (shoulder), Rafael Montero: (shoulder), Tyler Ivey: (undisclosed), Kent Emanuel: (elbow), Kyle Tucker: (covid-19), Alex Bregman: (hamstring).

Royals: Greg Holland: (shoulder), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Jake Brentz: (shoulder), Ronald Bolanos: (flexor), Adalberto Mondesi: (oblique).

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