Detroit Tigers vs Kansas City Royals: Game 146 Preview, TV/Radio Coverage, Lineup

Detroit Tigers (80-65) vs Kansas City Royals (79-64) — 7:08 p.m. ET

Comerica Park — Detroit, MI

TV: Fox Sports Detroit, ESPN

Radio: 97.1 The Ticket (click for affiliates)

Weather:  76 degrees, 70 percent chance of storms

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Game Notes

The Detroit Tigers have handled the Kansas City Royals this season, to the tune of an 11-4 record. They have already clinched the series victory this week, but should the Tigers lose today, winning two out of three might not be so great since Kansas City will be leaving with a one-game lead in the division. Granted that would be one game less than they came in with, but it would be pretty cool to sweep the Royals and gain a one-game lead.

Joakim Soria will be activated from the disabled list prior to this game.

When We Last Met

The Tigers beat the Royals 4-2 in one of the more exciting and entertaining games of the year. The game featured homers from Rajai Davis and J.D. Martinez and great pitching from Max Scherzer and the bullpen. Joe Nathan pitched great after allowing two infield singles in which the runners just beat out the throws. Hard to blame him for those, but he calmly got a strikeout, pick-off on second, and strikeout to preserve the victory and draw the Tigers even with the Royals in the AL Central.

Pitching Matchup 

Rick Porcello (15-10, 3.30) has experienced a couple rough outings recently and looks to get back on track after a marvelous season thus far. He allowed six runs (five earned) on 10 hits in just three innings of an 8-2 loss on Friday. The long rain delay ended his night early on that night. Rick is 2-0 this season against KC, allowing just three runs over 15 innings in those two starts.

The Royals will throw their ace out there looking to avoid the sweep.   James Shields (13-7, 3.23) nearly went the distance in his last outing, shutting out the Yankees through 8.1 innings of a 1-0 win on Friday. After getting shelled by the Yankees two weeks ago, Shields has allowed just one run over 15.1 innings since. Detroit has had success against Shields this year, winning all three of the games he has started, scoring 12 runs, including scoring seven of him in an 8-2 drubbing on May 2.

Detroit Tigers Lineup 

1. Ian Kinsler-2B
2. Torii Hunter-RF
3. Miguel Cabrera-DH
4. Victor Martinez-1B
5. J.D. Martinez-LF
6. Don Kelly-CF
7. Nick Castellanos-3B
8. Alex Avila-C
9. Andrew Romine-SS

Injuries

Tigers

• Anibal Sanchez – 15-day DL
• Luke Putkonen – Out indefinitely
• Andy Dirks – Out indefinitely
• Joel Hanrahan – 60-day DL
• Jose Iglesias – Out for season
• Bruce Rondon – Out for season

Royals

• Danny Duffy – Day-to-Day
• Christian Colon – Out indefinitely
• Michael Mariot – 60-day DL
• Luke Hochevar – Out for season