Preview: Yankees at Royals (8/25/14)

The Yankees start a pivotal match up with the AL Central leading Royals. Michael Pineda (2-2, 2.05 ERA) matches up against James Shields (12-6, 3.28 ERA) in game one at Kauffman stadium. The Yankees received a solid six inning performance from Pineda his second time out off the DL against the Astros. He gave up two earned runs on four hits while walking one in a no decision. "He was pretty good," Joe Girardi said of Pineda's last start. "I thought he got a little tired at the end, but that's to be expected. We pushed him a little bit, but I thought he gave us a really good performance."

Shields called his last outing against the Rockies "a grind day." He gave up nine hits in seven innings against the Rockies but kept the damage to two runs with help from some double plays from his defense. Since July 7th, batters are hitting just .223 against him. Shields is very familiar with Derek Jeter having spent time in the AL East with the Rays. He has faced the captain 95 times during his career. Jeter will be honored before this matchup and Shields had nothing but nice things to say about the retiree. "He's been a tough out his whole career," Shields said. "I'm not the only one, for sure, but he's had close to 100 at bats against me and every out I've ever had has been tough. It's been an honor to be able to face a guy like that for a long time." Jeter has hit .284 (25-88) against Shields with one homer, three doubles and six RBIs.

The Yankees come into the series with a lot of momentum, they scored 16 runs over the weekend and have won four in a row. "We've always talked about where momentum starts," said Girardi. "It starts with your starting pitcher the next day. But it's a good feeling going on the road when you're going on a strange trip where you're going to a city to play one day. But it's a much better feeling when you're leaving."

Notes on the game

Shields is 9-15 against the Yanks with a 4.20 ERA.

Carlos Beltran's 15th home run with the Yankees on Saturday marked the fifth Major League team he has hit 15 homers with, Kansas City was the first.

First pitch at 7:10 pm on ESPN and My9.