Detroit @ Kansas City preview
Kauffman Stadium
Last Meeting ( Aug 25, 2010 ) Kansas City 4, Detroit 3
The Detroit Tigers showed they have plenty of fight left with a gritty comeback win over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night.
Whether the Tigers can carry that over to Friday’s opener of a three-game series in Kansas City is another matter.
Detroit used a pair of dramatic home runs to avert a sweep with a 10-9 victory in 13 innings over the American League Central-leading Twins.
Casper Wells hit a solo shot in the ninth inning to force extra innings and Gerald Laird won the game with a solo blast in the 13th.
Yet the victory took its toll in a number of ways on Detroit. The game lasted nearly five hours, the Tigers were forced to use closer Jose Valverde for three innings and, most importantly, star slugger Miguel Cabrera exited the game in the sixth inning with biceps tendinitis.
The major league leader with 108 RBIs, Cabrera also ranks second in the AL with a .336 batting average and 33 home runs. He is listed as day-to-day and his status for tonight’s game is in question.
Missing his potent bat would leave a huge hole in Detroit’s lineup against reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke.
Although Greinke (8-11) has not come close to matching his sensational season of a year ago, he has shown signs of returning to his dominant form in his past four outings.
The 26-year-old right-hander has allowed a total of seven runs in his last four starts, pitching at least eight innings in three of them. Of course, the Royals have supplied Greinke with just nine runs in that span, leaving him with one victory and three no-decisions to show for his efforts.
Greinke has enjoyed considerable success in his career against Detroit, going 11-5 with a 2.45 ERA in 23 appearances, including 20 starts. He only faced the Tigers once this season, allowing two runs – one earned – on six hits in six innings on Opening Day. He did not factor in the decision in the Royals’ 8-4 defeat.
Kansas City lost two of three last week in Detroit, including a 12-3 defeat at the hands of Jeremy Bonderman in the series opener.
Bonderman (7-9) will take the mound tonight after missing his last scheduled start with inflammation in his rib cage. He surrendered two runs on eight hits in six innings against the Royals on Aug. 23, snapping a three-game losing streak in the process.
He has to be wary of Royals shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, who homered and drove in two runs in Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to Texas.
Betancourt is a career .458 hitter (11-for-24) against Bonderman.