Baseball-Two Royals players sidelined with chicken pox

Sept 1 (Reuters) - The Kansas City Royals have been almost unstoppable this season but on Tuesday they faced a very different challenge with two of their players sidelined by chicken pox. Outfielder Alex Rios and reliever Kelvin Herrera have both succumbed to the highly contagious disease and are expected to be out for up to two weeks after being sent home and placed in quarantine, the team said. Manager Ned Yost told reporters before Tuesday's game against the Detroit Tigers that the rest of the clubhouse appeared to be fit. Puerto Rican Rios is hitting .253 with two homers in 82 games this season while Dominican Republic native Herrera is 4-2 with a 2.12 earned run average. The Royals have set an American League best record of 80-50 this season and lead the Central Division by 13 games over the second place Minnesota Twins. Chicken pox is a viral infection that causes an itchy, blister-like rash and usually lasts about five to 10 days, according to the Mayo Clinic. For most people, chicken pox is a mild disease and can be prevented by vaccination. (Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank Pingue)