Kansas City @ Detroit preview
Comerica Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 23, 2010 ) Kansas City 3, Detroit 12
The Detroit Tigers look to build upon Monday’s 12-3 thrashing of the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night in what could turn out to be Johnny Damon’s swan song with the club.
Damon was claimed on waivers by the Boston Red Sox on Monday and has until Wednesday to decide whether or not he’ll accept a move back to Beantown.
The veteran outfielder would have to waive his no-trade clause for the deal to go through. Damon and the Red Sox didn’t leave on the best of terms when he left Boston to join the rival New York Yankees, so this has to be a tough decision for him.
Damon is hitting .272 with seven homers and 41 RBIs in his first season with Detroit.
The Tigers have caught fire lately as they try to crawl back into the playoff race - although they are a distant 15 games off the pace for the wild card. Detroit has won four straight games in large part due to its offense. The team has put 31 runs on the board over that stretch.
The Tigers pounded out seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Royals on Monday to put the game away. They finished with 12 hits on the evening.
Detroit will be looking for the same sort of production at the dish when it sends Rick Porcello (5-11, 5.76 ERA) to the mound on Tuesday.
Porcello has only one win in his last 11 starts and gave up at least four runs in five of those outings, the latest being an 11-5 loss at Yankee Stadium last week. He permitted six earned runs in five innings while walking three in that start.
The Royals counter with right-hander Kyle Davies (6-7, 5.14 ERA), who hasn’t allowed more than four runs in a game since June 15. In addition, he has pitched through the fifth inning in every start since going just 4 1/3 innings against the Braves back on June 20.
Davies has only two career wins in nine starts against the Tigers, but has been better lately, posting a win and a 3.55 ERA in his last contests – both of which were at Comerica Park.
Shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt continues to pace the Royals’ lackluster offense. He had two more hits on Monday and leads the team with 13 home runs and is only one RBI behind Billy Butler’s team-leading 62.