Kansas City has an opportunity to gain ground on Cleveland in the American League Central Division race as the week concludes.

The Royals began a four-game series with Cleveland Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium. The divisional series will conclude Sunday.

A sweep would put Kansas City within five games of division-leading Cleveland. The Royals were in third place and nine games behind the Guardians through Wednesday.

The Royals also had gone 3-7 in their last 10 games through Wednesday. After closing an interleague road series with the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 3-0 loss June 16, they lost two out of three to Oakland in a June 18-20 road series.

Kansas City then got swept in a three-game weekend series with Texas that concluded Sunday at Globe Life Field, including back-to-back shutouts. After dropping the opener 6-2, the Royals were blanked 6-0 and then 4-0. It was the first time the Royals had been swept this season.

The Royals rebounded from the sweep by taking two of three this week in an interleague series with Miami at Kauffman. The Royals took the opener 4-1 Monday, fell 2-1 Tuesday and won 5-1 Wednesday.