Kansas City Royals (55-102, fifth in AL Central) vs. Cincinnati Reds (66-92, fifth in NL Central)

Cincinnati; Wednesday, 6:40 p.m. Eastern

PROBABLE PITCHERS: Royals: Heath Fillmyer (3-2, 4.56 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 48 strikeouts) Reds: Cody Reed (1-2, 3.66 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 40 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: Whit Merrifield is riding a 15-game hitting streak as Kansas City readies to play Cincinnati. The Reds head into the ballgame as losers of their last four games. The Cincinnati offense has compiled a .254 batting average as a team this season, Scooter Gennett leads the team with a mark of .315. The Royals are 4-8 in games started by Fillmyer. Kansas City holds a team on-base percentage of .305 for the year, Merrifield paces the lineup with a .369 OBP. The Royals won 4-3 in Tuesday’s meeting, Kevin McCarthy earned his fifth win of the year.

TOP PERFORMERS: Salvador Perez is batting .235 with a .275 on-base percentage and .442 slugging percentage in 125 games this season for the Royals. Adalberto Mondesi has 12 hits and is batting .267 over his past 10 games for Kansas City. Eugenio Suarez has 32 home runs and 101 RBIs this season for the Reds. Jose Peraza has 11 hits and is batting .262 over his past 10 games for Cincinnati.

LAST 10 GAMES: Royals: 4-6, .267 batting average, 4.30 ERA. Reds: 3-7, .182 batting average, 3.27 ERA, outscored by 23 runs.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by HERO Sports, and data from Sportradar.