Cleveland @ Kansas City preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 14, 2016 ) Cleveland 2, Kansas City 3

Salvador Perez has turned it on over the last week and the Kansas City Royals have followed suit to move within one game of the American League Central-leading Cleveland Indians. Perez and the Royals look to continue their torrid march on Wednesday as the reigning World Series champions vie for their fifth consecutive victory and a series sweep of the visiting Indians.

The 26-year-old Venezuelan belted a two-run homer in Tuesday's 3-2 triumph, improving to 12-for-24 with three blasts and four RBIs in his last six games. Whit Merrifield has launched his first two career homers in this series for Kansas City, which has won eight in a row at home and improved to 21-7 overall at Kauffman Stadium. Cleveland's Jason Kipnis also is on a tear, with an 8-for-22 performance in six encounters with the Royals highlighting a 14-for-47 effort this month. Carlos Santana launched a solo homer on Tuesday but is 0-for-9 with three strikeouts against Wednesday starter Ian Kennedy.

TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, SportsTime Ohio (Cleveland), FSN Kansas City

PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians RH Corey Kluber (6-6, 3.65 ERA) vs. Royals RH Ian Kennedy (4-5, 4.06)

Kluber registered his second complete game of the season on Friday after permitting two runs and three hits in a 6-2 triumph over the Los Angeles Angels. The 30-year-old has turned around his season after a disastrous 0-3 start with a 6.16 ERA, going 4-1 over his last five outings. Included in that run is a dominating performance versus Kansas City on June 5 in which Kluber scattered two hits and struck out six in as many innings of a 7-0 victory.

Kennedy fell to 0-3 in his last six outings following a horrific display against the Chicago White Sox on Friday. The 31-year-old, who has been taken deep 11 times in his last six turns, served up a career-high four homers and a total of seven runs in 5 2/3 innings of a 7-5 setback. Kennedy yielded two blasts and five runs in a 7-1 setback against Cleveland on June 4, a markedly different performance than when he scattered four hits over seven frames in a 7-0 rout of the Indians on May 7.

WALK-OFFS

1. Cleveland SS Francisco Liriano recorded his 11th three-hit performance of the season on Tuesday, putting him within one of the major-league lead (Boston's Xander Bogaerts).

2. Royals CF Lorenzo Cain is 0-for-8 with three strikeouts in this series and 0-for-15 in his last four meetings with the Indians.

3. The home team has won eight of the nine contests in the season series.

PREDICTION: Indians 4, Royals 2