(Photo credit: David Banks)

The visiting Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates, two teams playing out the regular season with minimal to no hope of a postseason spot, meet for the opener of a three-game series on Friday night.

The Royals (67-86) have lost four of their past five games and are coming off a 6-2 defeat at Houston on Thursday. The Astros took two of three in the series. Kansas City, already eliminated from playoff contention, plays its final three road games of the season at Pittsburgh before finishing with six contests at home.

The Pirates, coming off a 7-4 home win over the National League Central champion Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday, have a chance to finish the season at .500 or better for the first time since 2018. However, Pittsburgh (76-77) is eight games out of a playoff position with nine games to go.

Royals right-hander Randy Dobnak (3-4, 2.73 ERA) returns to the greater Pittsburgh area, where he was raised, to face the Pirates. Dobnak took a loss against the Boston Red Sox in his latest start, allowing three runs on four hits over 5 2/3 innings on Saturday.

Dobnak won his lone career start against the Pirates when he threw six scoreless innings on Aug. 5, 2020, in Pittsburgh.

The Pirates will turn to Paul Skenes (10-11, 3.78 ERA), who will face the Royals for the first time in his career. The ace right-hander is the team's strikeouts leader with 185 despite enduring a disappointing season one year after winning the National League Cy Young Award.

The Royals have an eye to the future with this season coming to a close and the team well back in the American League Central. Daniel Lynch IV could be part of the Royals' future rotation after he allowed just two hits in five shutout innings on Wednesday in Houston.

'I was really happy, particularly that I was able to command my four-seam fastball,' Lynch said, according to MLB.com. 'And I felt like it was a good blend between the sinker and the four-seam. I was able to keep them off balance a little bit, and then just mixing in my off-speed stuff, that's how I've had success in the past -- just kind of been all over the place with my stuff, not throwing one pitch the majority of the time. Just trying to mix all five of them.'

The Pirates have established a single-season franchise record for home runs, with Henry Davis adding to the mark by socking No. 175 on Thursday. Winning the season series against the major-league-leading Brewers, seven games to six, gives the Pirates hope.

'They obviously won the division, and I think it's something that we're trying to get there,' Pirates manager Don Kelly said. 'As we continue to compete against them and continue to get better, we need to find ways to do that. I thought we played well against them over the course of the year.'

--Field Level Media