Detroit Tigers: Previewing the Kansas City Royals

The Detroit Tigers are 1-1 on the year against the Royals, with one game getting rained out. They’ll make up that game in a doubleheader on Friday to kick off a four-game weekend series.

The Detroit Tigers are riding high after a mid-week three game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles. They’ll look to carry that momentum into a four game homestead against the Kansas City Royals.

Here are the expected pitching matchups for this weekend:

Friday, April 20 Michael Fulmer vs. Jason Hammel

Friday, April 20 Daniel Norris vs. Jake Junis

Saturday, April 21 Mike Fiers vs. TBD

Sunday, April 22 Francisco Liriano vs. Danny Duffy

The Tigers will get to square off against veteran Jason Hammel on Friday. Hammel has looked solid in his last two starts, throwing six scoreless innings against the Indians and 5.1 innings of two-run ball last week against the Angels. He gives up a lot of hits and doesn’t strike many guys out however, so Detroit could very well keep up their hot hitting against him.

Jake Junis completely carved up the Tigers the first time around, striking out six in seven scoreless innings. He has looked locked in this season, and is a definite breakout candidate among AL starting pitchers. Hopefully Detroit can get a little more going off him this time around.

Lastly, a pair of veteran left-handers in Liriano and Duffy will square off for Sunday’s game. Duffy has been KC’s best pitcher for the last couple of years, and has only given up one run in his last two outings, with 15 strikeouts. He will be a tough matchup for Detroit, who has struggled against left-handers so far this year.

The Royals Offense

Kansas City is led by their corner infielders in Mike Moustakas and Lucas Duda. Moose is hitting .348 with four home runs and 13 RBI, while Duda has three home runs and 10 RBI on the year. Jon Jay, who was signed this offseason, is hitting .271/.377/.339. Second baseman Whit Merrifield broke out in a big way last year but has looked just okay so far in 2018, hitting .250 with only one stolen base. He led the American League last year in that category.

Alcides Escobar is still playing shortstop and seems to be the regular starter despite his .182 average. Former Cubs prospect Jorge Soler is playing right field, and left field is currently being split between Paulo Orlando (.225) and Abraham Almonte (.100) while Alex Gordon recovers from a hip injury. Lastly, with Salvador Perez on the DL, Drew Butera and Cam Gallagher have split duties behind the plate.

Overall, not much to fear in this KC lineup. If Detroit’s arms can minimize the long-ball threats of Moose and Duda, they should be able to keep this team from putting too many runs on the board at Comerica Park this weekend.

Things to watch out for

Can the Tigers hit Jake Junis?

Junis completely shut the Tigers down last time they faced each other. However, Baltimore’s inferior pitching helped Detroit’s bats wake up. Will Junis slam the door yet again? Or will Detroit’s momentum carry them to another strong offensive performance?

From the same game: How will Daniel Norris look as a starter?

After Mike Fiers returned from the disabled list, many thought Norris would be sent to Triple-A. Instead the Tigers chose to keep him on as a long reliever, a role he has had mixed results in. Now, with the rain causing a doubleheader on Friday, Norris will finally get a chance to start. How he looks in that game will likely go a long way in determining how the Tigers want to approach his future in the Motor City. While the team has stuck with him as a starter up to this point, he has a lot of intrigue as a reliever.

Will Joe Jimenez ever give up a run?

The answer is obviously yes, but let’s bask in Jimenez’s outstanding start to the 2018 season. He has looked every bit like the future star reliever that so many Detroit Tigers fans were hoping for. His performance this year is critical, as it would allow the team to deal Shane Greene at the trade deadline for prospects. If the team is confident Jimenez can take over the ninth inning role, expect Greene to be shopped heavily come July.

Next: Who should start in LF?

The Detroit Tigers are on a nice little roll right now and get four games against another beatable team. Winning a second consecutive series would be huge for this team, and is very doable if the offense stays hot.