KC Royals Game Preview: Drew Waters returns

Just hours before tonight's game against Washington, the KC Royals made one of their least surprising moves of the season.

Outfielder Drew Waters is back. The club ended his injury rehabilitation assignment and restored him to the 26-man roster this afternoon.

Waters is returning from the oblique injury he suffered during spring training. He was initially unimpressive at the plate when he began his rehab stint at Triple-A Omaha earlier this month, but caught fire and seemed ready for the big leagues this week. He was slashing .327/.397/.635 for the Storm Chasers when the Royals summoned him back to Kansas City.

And he's in this evening's starting lineup:

The Royals didn't need to create roster space today for Waters because they optioned Nate Eaton to Omaha Thursday.

Who's playing for Washington tonight?

Per our FanSided sister site District on Deck, here's how the Nationals will line up:

Who are tonight's starting pitchers for the KC Royals and Washington?

Kansas City righthander Jordan Lyles is scheduled to throw the 7:10 p.m. CT game's first pitch, while lefthander Patrick Corbin will start for the Nationals.

Despite having plenty of chances—this evening's start will be his 11th of the season—Lyles is still searching for his first win of the campaign. His eight losses and 7.15 ERA are the worst among qualified big league starters. He gave up five runs in five innings against the White Sox in his last start and seven in 2.1 frames against Milwaukee the start before that.

Lyles may be thankful that May is almost over: he's 0-3, 8.86 this month, and has surrendered 24 runs in 21.1 innings.

He's 0-3, 5.71 against the Nationals in his 13-year career.

Corbin is 3-5 with a 4.47 ERA but has won his last two starts. His 16 losses in 2019 tied Cincinnati's Luis Castillo for the most in the big leagues, and his 19 last year were more than any other major leaguer.

Corbin's two career appearances against Kansas City haven't yielded a win or a loss.

How can KC Royals fans watch or listen to tonight's game?

Tonight's contest, the first of three Kansas City and Washington will play this weekend, can be seen on Bally Sports Kansas City and heard on KCSP-AM 610 Sports Radio and the affiliated stations on the Royals Radio Network.