With the July 31 Trade Deadline coming up, this week marked an important one for the Royals. If they wanted to pave their way out of being sellers at the Deadline, the team needed to take care of business against the Cubs to begin the week.

The Chicago Cubs fell to .500 since the All-Star Break with an 8-4 loss against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday. Normally, losing two of three against an AL Central team in July wouldn't be a big deal to the Cubs. In this case, it might be.

Witt sat out the series finale after a brief injury scare the night before. During a plate appearance on Tuesday, the 25-year-old’s leg appeared to buckle slightly. Manager Matt Quatraro said postgame that Witt felt some discomfort in his knee but downplayed the severity, calling it “nothing.”

Dick Mountain is back, and he's older than ever. The Kansas City Royals plan to call up 45-year-old pitcher Rich Hill from the minors for a start against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, marking the left-hander's 21st season in the majors.

Its Wednesday, July 23 and the Royals (49-53) are in Chicago to close out their series with the Cubs (60-41). Seth Lugo is slated to take the mound for Kansas City against Colin Rea for Chicago.

Royals first. Adam Frazier reaches on error to deep right field, advances to 2nd. Fielding error by Seiya Suzuki. Maikel Garcia out on a sacrifice bunt to shallow infield, Matt Shaw to Michael

The Kansas City Royals placed infielder/outfielder Nick Loftin on the seven-day concussion injured list and recalled outfielder MJ Melendez from Triple-A Omaha before Wednesday afternoon’s series finale against the Cubs in Chicago.

By calling up Rich Hill for Tuesday's showdown with the Chicago Cubs, the Kansas City Royals put the 45-year-old left-hander in position to make history.