Yankees and Royals look to get struggling starters on track

1:27 PM ET

The Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees enter this week’s edition of Wednesday Night Baseball (7 p.m. ET on ESPN) with lineups and probable pitchers that have ranked near the bottom of the major leagues this season.

Tuesday night’s offensive outburst — a 10-7 win for the Yankees — was a good sign for each lineup, but Yordano Ventura and Michael Pineda are pitching well below their career averages.

Here are the top stats to know heading into the game.

Trouble against the shift

The Yankees’ balls in play have been shifted against a league-high 3,548 times since the start of 2013. The difference between the Yankees and the second-place team is a little more than the difference between the teams in second and 10th place on that list.

Yankees hitters have a .258 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) against shifts in that time, worst in the majors. The low BABIP could be due to the fact that the Yankees have pulled the ball 46 percent of the time with the shift on, highest in the major leagues.

Chasing pitches

Kansas City has been just as …

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