O's game blog: Yovani Gallardo on the mound in K.C. series opener

KANSAS CITY - It is a matchup tonight of two American League division leaders and the two clubs with the current best records in the AL. The Orioles (10-4) play at Kauffman Stadium against Kansas City (10-5) in the opener of a three-game series.

The defending World Series champion Royals are 6-2 at home and are 13-2 in their last 15 home games dating to the 2015 playoffs. They went 51-30 at Kauffman Stadium last year for the third-best home record in the AL.

On the mound tonight, Yovani Gallardo (1-0, 5.63 ERA) makes his fourth Orioles start. Gallardo gave up just one run over five innings on April 6 against Minnesota in his O's debut. But over his last two starts, he has pitched 11 innings, allowing 16 hits and nine runs. He has given up four runs in the first inning of his three starts for an ERA of 12.00 in the opening inning. Opponent batters hit .462 against him in the first inning this year.

In one 2015 start against Kansas City, Gallardo allowed two runs and six hits over seven innings. He was pitching at home for Texas on May 13 and got the win in that start against the Royals. In two career starts versus Kansas City, he is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA over 14 innings.

Right-hander Chris Young (0-3, 7.90 ERA) tonight makes his fourth start of the season tonight. He gave up just two runs in five innings in his first start. But in the last two, Young has worked 8 2/3 innings, allowing 17 hits and 10 runs against Houston and Oakland.

In his three starts this year, Young has pitched against the Mets' Noah Syndergaard, Houston's Collin McHugh and Oakland's Sonny Gray.

The 36-year-old Young, who stands 6-foot-10, came up big last year for Kansas City. He went 11-6 with a 3.06 ERA during the regular season allowing just 6.6 hits per nine innings with a WHIP of 1.086. Then, in four playoff games (three starts), he went 1-0 with a 2.87 ERA.

But this year, he has allowed 20 hits over 13 2/3 innings. Left-handed batters are hitting .355 and slugging .742 against him. Right-handed batters are hitting .310 off him and he has allowed an average against of .417 when pitching with runners in scoring position.

In five career games (four starts) versus the Orioles, he is 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA. He has pitched 14 scoreless innings in his past two starts against Baltimore.

The Orioles lost two games here during the 2014 American League Championship Series and went 1-3 here last year. They are 4-8 at Kauffman Stadium since 2013 and have gone 3-4 against the Royals the last three seasons.

Three Orioles are among the top five batters in the AL right now. Manny Machado leads all hitters batting .407, Mark Trumbo is second at .370 and Joey Rickard is fifth at .350. Over his last two games, Rickard is 6-for-10 and he is batting .379 (11-for-29) during a six-game hitting streak.

Machado went 6-for-12 in the Toronto series and takes a 14-game hitting streak into this series. That has tied his career-best. Machado has three doubles the last three games and six over his last seven games.