Royals try to shake off setback ahead of opener at Houston

The Kansas City Royals, back in second place in the American League Central after sharing the top spot for a day, will look to bounce back when they open a four-game road series against the Houston Astros on Thursday.

Kansas City won the first three games of a four-game series at Cleveland this week, but the Royals coughed up a late three-run lead en route to a 7-5 loss on Wednesday. The latest result allowed the Guardians to reclaim sole possession of first place in the AL Central.

The Royals were 10 games behind Cleveland on June 25, making their surge to the top of the division a noteworthy accomplishment. The Wednesday defeat might have stalled momentum, but the next challenge facing the Royals is regrouping before landing in Houston.

"When you get the first three, you want to win the fourth," Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. "So it's disappointing but by no means should this put a damper on what these guys accomplished.

"It's a race. We're going to be back and forth. It's not the last game we're going to lose this year and it's not the end of the world. We need to come out (Thursday) and be ready to go."

Right-hander Brady Singer (9-9, 3.38 ERA) has the starting assignment for the Royals on Thursday. He allowed five runs on a season-high 11 hits over five-plus innings in an 11-2 setback to the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.

Singer is 1-2 with a 4.57 ERA in four career starts against the Astros. He was the pitcher of record in a 13-3 home victory over Houston on April 11 after surrendering one run on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts over five innings.

Right-hander Hunter Brown (11-7, 3.72) is scheduled to start the series opener for Houston. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in 12 of his last 14 starts and is 10-2 with a 2.12 ERA during that span.

In his latest outing, Brown yielded two runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks with six strikeouts over six innings in a no-decision against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday.

Brown is 0-2 with a frightful 36.82 ERA in two career starts against the Royals. He endured the worst start of his career on April 11 at Kansas City when he allowed nine runs on 11 hits and one walk while recording only two outs in a defeat to Singer and the Royals.

The Astros capped a challenging road trip with a 3-4 record after pounding the Phillies 10-0 on Wednesday. Houston produced its most complete effort of the trip, recording a season-high-tying 18 hits -- including three home runs from Yordan Alvarez -- while rookie right-hander Spencer Arrighetti took a no-hitter into the eighth inning.

The 10-run cushion enabled Astros manager Joe Espada to pull second baseman Jose Altuve and third baseman Alex Bregman in the eighth even with the no-hitter in play. With the four-game series against the Royals part of a stretch of 18 games over 18 days, the motivation for lifting regulars early was obvious.

"My first thought is we are playing 18 straight (games)," said Espada, whose team leads the American League West by 3 1/2 games over the second-place Seattle Mariners. "I've got to give my guys a little breather. I'm very much aware of the no-hitter and where everybody is at, but right now we have bigger goals which is (to) win this division. So I've got to do everything in my power to make sure everybody is healthy and everybody is recovered for (Thursday)."

--Field Level Media