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Former American League Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber has just two victories over his past eight starts, including losses in his past two outings.

The right-hander will look to start a turnaround as he and the Cleveland Guardians attempt to complete a three-game sweep of the host Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

Bieber, 28, has never lost to the Royals. He is 6-0 with a 3.03 ERA in 13 career starts vs. Kansas City.

Cleveland won 2-1 on Tuesday and 14-1 on Wednesday and has taken seven of its past nine to move into first place in the American League Central.

“We still have a ton of season left to play,” designated hitter Josh Bell said. “We’ve got to take care of every last ballgame. We plan to do that.”

As for Bieber (5-5, 3.69 ERA), he is 2-4 with a 4.84 ERA during the eight-start stretch. He allowed five or more runs three times in that span.

Bieber gave up four runs and five hits over five innings while losing to the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.

In his previous outing on June 17, he pitched well most of the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, he served up three homers — two of them in the eighth inning — during a 6-3 loss. He allowed five runs and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings.

The 2020 AL Cy Young winner has also been the subject of trade speculation all month.

On Thursday, Bieber will be hope to se the Guardians deliver another offensive assault.

Cleveland racked up 14 hits on Wednesday, including a grand slam from Jose Ramirez, a two-run, 464-foot shot into the fountains by Bell and the first career homer by Bo Naylor.

Ramirez drove in five runs and Bell knocked in four. Naylor had three hits, three runs and two RBIs in his 13th career game.

Guardians bench coach DeMarlo Hale, who filled in as manager the past two games, said Naylor is getting comfortable.

“He’s a little calmer,” Hale said. “You think about him coming up, he probably wanted to impress so much so early, and I think he’s starting to settle in. Catchers got a lot of things on their plate — the different pitchers, the game plan — and I think he’s adjusting very well to it.”

Manager Terry Francona, who experienced lightheadedness and was hospitalized on Tuesday, rested at the team hotel on Wednesday night. His status for Thursday wasn’t announced.

The Royals have lost 20 of their past 25 games. Kansas City has scored just three runs while losing its past three games.

“It’s baseball and things happen,” Royals outfielder Drew Waters said. “Not everything is going to go your way. The cool thing is we get to play (Thursday) and bounce back.”

Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez is 5-for-20 with three homers against Bieber. He returned to the lineup on Wednesday after missing one game due to an eye procedure on Monday’s off day. Perez went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

Royals second baseman Nicky Lopez was hit by a pitch on his right hand and departed after the third inning. X-rays were negative, and he was listed as day-to-day.

The Royals are also starting a former Cy Young winner, right-hander Zack Greinke (1-8, 5.31 ERA). He was the AL’s top pitcher in 2009 during his first tour of duty with Kansas City.

Greinke is winless over his last nine starts, going 0-4 with a 5.36 ERA during the stretch. He lost to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday when he was torched for seven runs and nine hits over 4 2/3 innings.

Greinke, 39, is 12-9 with a 3.41 ERA in 35 games (30 starts) against Cleveland. Myles Straw is 5-for-9 off Greinke, while Ramirez (3-for-16) and Steven Kwan (1-for-10) have struggled.

–Field Level Media