Royals series is an early must-win for the Phillies

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The Royals and their fans got to celebrate a series opening victory

The Philadelphia Phillies (21-16) continue their series at Kauffman Stadium with the host Kansas City Royals (14-25) on Saturday night. The Phillies need to come away with a victory in order to have a chance to win this series against the team with the worst record in the American League.

The Royals offense has actually been very comparable to the Phillies to this point, at least statistically. They are averaging 4.74 runs per game to the Phillies average of 5.11 runs. Over two more games played, the Royals have slugged two more homers than the Phillies. Kansas City’s .752 collective OPS is just ahead of the .751 mark of the Phillies.

On the mound is where you find the primary difference between the first-place Phillies and last-place Royals. With a staff ERA at the 3.96 mark the Phillies pitchers rank 11th in all of baseball. The Royals staff has a collective 4.99 ERA, just 26th among the 30 MLB clubs.

That pitching difference didn’t show up in Friday night’s series opener. Royals starter Homer Bailey shut the Phillies down on four hits and one earned run over five solid innings. The Kansas City bullpen then followed with four no-hit frames, striking out eight Phillies batters.

SATURDAY STARTING LINEUPS

PHILLIES LINEUP

1. Andrew McCutchen LF
2. Jean Segura SS
3. Bryce Harper RF
4. Rhys Hoskins 1B
5. J.T. Realmuto DH
6. Odubel Herrera CF
7. Cesar Hernandez 2B
8. Maikel Franco 3B
9. Andrew Knapp C

ROYALS LINEUP

1. Whit Merrifield 2B
2. Adalberto Mondesi SS
3. Alex Gordon LF
4. Hunter Dozier 3B
5. Jorge Soler RF
6. Ryan O’Hearn 1B
7. Kelvin Gutierrez DH
8. Chris Owings CF
9. Martin Maldonado C