The Royals have won 68 percent of their past 79 home games. They aren't going to lack for motivation here either having lost the first two games of this series to the White Sox by an embarrassing margin of 18-2.

Prior to Friday, the Royals had beaten the White Sox 21 of 27 times.

The Royals are the far superior team. They are going with their ace, Johnny Cueto, against call-up Erik Johnson. Cueto has lost his last three starts. But he's always been a strong day time pitcher and has a 13-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio during his last three starts. I don't see him losing a fourth consecutive start especially in this pitching matchup and backed by the best bullpen in the majors.

Johnson really struggled when he pitched in the majors last season posting a 6.46 ERA. He's faced the Royals twice before in his career and surrendered 10 runs in 10 innings.

This is a kill spot for the Royals, whose last three victories have been by an average of 7.3 runs.