Game One Hundred and Four: Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Guardians

The Royals could win their first road series since May

The Bridge Statues of Cleveland will take on the Cattle Competitions of Kansas City this afternoon at Jacobs Progressive Field. Two rookie starting pitchers will square off with both teams looking to secure a series victory after splitting the first two games.

Alec Marsh will take the hill for the Royals. Marsh has shown solid swing and miss ability in his first four career starts, but that’s also come with his fair share of walks. More concerning is his inability to keep the ball in the yard as Marsh has already surrendered eight homers in just 20.1 innings. While his HR/FB% is abnormally high, he’s not forcing much soft contact and is allowing a ton of pull-side flyballs. Hopefully he can keep it in the park against a Cleveland team that’s last in baseball in homers.

Starting for Cleveland is Gavin Williams. The East Carolina product dominated Vanderbilt in a Super Regional start in 2021, got drafted in the first round that summer, then blitzed through the minors before debuting in the big leagues in June. Williams has been generally effective, though he hasn’t posted the strikeout numbers that he showed in the minors and has walked four batters in consecutive starts. He’s already faced the Royals twice in his young career, going seven shutty in the first before surrendering three runs in 5.2 in his next attempt.

First pitch: 12:10 pm CDT

Royals lineup

Guardians lineup