Kansas City Royals: Five players to watch in third series vs Twins

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Kansas City Royals third basemen Mike Moustakas (8) celebrates with teammate Eric Hosmer (35) – Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports /

The KC Royals really need to take this series from the Twins to show that they can beat the Twins. It’s been a rough go of it for the boys in blue during their first two series against Minnesota, but the Royals can actually hit now.

The pitching match-ups haven’t all been announced yet, but it’ll be Nate Karns squaring off against Hector Santiago on Friday night. Santiago mowed down the Royals in the second game of the year, but he’s hittable now. His 3.80 ERA is decent, but hopefully he won’t own the Royals like he did in the first meeting between the two.

Saturday’s game should be Ian Kennedy heading to the mound with likely Phil Hughes as the opposition. Hughes has an ERA of 5.23 with a win/loss record of 4-2.

Sunday more than likely will be Jason Hammel, but not sure who against yet. Hopefully the Royals won’t have to face Ervin Santana, but with the Twins having a four-man rotation, he could be rushed into starting on Sunday despite pitching on Thursday in Game 1 of a doubleheader.

Next: Ten Best Royals Closers of All-Time

Are you optimistic about the Royals’ chances in this series or will the Twinkies continue to dominate the KC Royals in 2017?

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