First pitch: Wednesday, 8:15 p.m. ET
Line: Cleveland -140, Kansas City +130, Total: 8.0

Kansas City looks to complete the sweep against Cleveland at Kauffman Stadium tonight.

With a win tonight, the Royals will have made up their three-game deficit to tie Cleveland for first place in the division in just one series. Kansas City was able to win the first two games of the series by getting timely hitting. Rookie 2B Whit Merrifield (.326, 2 HR, 7 RBI) has been the catalyst of the Royals offense this series, hitting a home run in both games. With the two wins in the series, Kansas City is now on a four-game win streak. On the other hand, Cleveland has now lost three of its last four. The Indians desperately need the win tonight to hold on to their lead in the division. They will also try to get back to the good baseball they were playing before the series started, winning nine of the last 12 before Monday’s game. Cleveland will be happy with the pitching matchup because they have the hot RHP Corey Kluber (6-6, 3.65 ERA, 87 K) going against the struggling RHP Ian Kennedy (4-5, 4.06 ERA, 66 K). Kansas City has got themselves back in the season-series against Cleveland with the back-to-back wins, but Cleveland still leads the series 6-3. The Royals, however, have a dominant home record of 21-7, which includes a 2-0 home record against the Indians.

Cleveland’s starter tonight, Corey Kluber, has had two dominant starts in his last two games. He has two wins with a 1.20 ERA and 14 Ks over the stretch. Those two starts include his one game this season when he started against Kansas City and held them to two hits and no runs over six innings while earning the win. Kluber has pitched well in his career against Kansas City, going 6-5 with a 3.17 ERA. Kluber has also been pitching very well on the road this year, going 4-2 with a 2.96 ERA. The Indians will need to get more production out of their lineup, which has only accumulated three runs all series. The only player producing for Cleveland is 2B Jason Kipnis (.271, 8 HR, 33 RBI), who has two of the Indians’ three RBIs in the series. In order for Cleveland to win tonight they will need to get someone to step up on the roster, especially 1B Mike Napoli (.237, 14 HR, 45 RBI), who doesn’t have a hit all series. Look for SS Francisco Lindor (.308, 7 HR, 33 RBI) to build off of his 3-for-4-night last night because he has been the only Indian hitting over .300 in June.

The story for Kansas City this series and the past month has been the emergence of Whit Merrifield as a capable starting second-baseman. He has been a hitting machine, averaging .326 in his first 23 major league at-bats. After getting his first major league home run on Monday, he hit another one last night. The Royals received some clutch hitting from C Salvador Perez (.294, 10 HR, 29 RBI) last night when he hit the go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth inning to win the game for Kansas City. Look for the Royals’ best hitter, 1B Eric Hosmer (.317, 12 HR, 38 RBI), to have a big night tonight because he has hit .262 against Kluber with three home runs and 12 RBIs in his career. Kansas City’s starter tonight, Ian Kennedy, has not been pitching well of late. He is 0-2 in his last two starts with a 6.11 ERA. One of those two starts was at Cleveland, where he gave up five runs over six innings in a loss. He will be looking to get back on track tonight and earn his first win since May 7.