GDT: 9/4/10 - DET (67-68) AT KC (56-78) - 7:10 p.m. ET

Porcello deals for another win against KC

By Joey Nowak / MLB.com

Kansas City's last meeting with Rick Porcello was a forgettable one for the Royals.

Detroit's young right-hander gained strict control of his often-dangerous sinker and held Kansas City to seven scoreless innings on Aug. 24 at Comerica Park.

In his last two starts, spanning 14 innings, Porcello has allowed just one run and five hits. This comes after some mid-season struggles that left many wondering if Porcello would be able to regain the fine form he exhibited in his stellar rookie campaign a year ago.

As Porcello and the Tigers -- and the Royals, for that matter -- have found, a lot of his success hinges on that sinker.

"We mixed in a lot of offspeed stuff, which kept them off-balance early on," Tigers catcher Alex Avila said after Porcello's last start against the Royals. "A few of their guys, you could tell they were looking for sinkers, which opened up his fastball later in the game."

In 31 career innings against the Royals, Porcello is 2-1 with a 3.77 ERA while striking out 18 Kansas City hitters.

"To [Porcello's] credit, he threw the ball pretty good," Royals manager Ned Yost said on Aug. 24. "When guys come in there that aren't throwing the ball well, we do a pretty good job of knocking them around."

On Saturday, Porcello will duel with arguably Kansas City's toughest starter this year. Bruce Chen, posting a 9-7 record with a 4.76 ERA, leads the team in victories. He worked six-plus innings, allowing just two hits to the Indians in his last start.

Since joining the Royals' rotation on May 30, the 33-year-old southpaw is 8-7 in 17 starts.

Royals: Fields returns at third
After being expected to miss the season with a hip injury, Josh Fields returned to the Royals this week as a September callup and got the start at third base on Friday. He was 1-for-5 with a run scored and made a nice play on a grounder hit by Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta in the second.

"Hitting is where I see the biggest difference. I can actually get to some pitches now as opposed to feeling I was missing everything," Fields said of his return from the injury. "So I'm excited."

Yost said Fields will get a look at third base with Wilson Betemit. Working his way back to the big leagues, Fields hit .436 (17-for-39) in 11 games with Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

Tigers: Carrying on without Cabrera
Detroit slugger Miguel Cabrera was held out of Friday's starting lineup with left bicep tendinitis. Listed as day-to-day, Cabrera left midway through Thursday's game against the Twins after going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. The American League MVP candidate is hitting .336 with 33 home runs and 108 RBIs this year. The Tigers are 4-0 without Cabrera in the lineup this season.

Worth noting
In his first big league callup with the White Sox in 2006, Fields also faced the Tigers. In that game, he hit a homer in his first Major League at-bat against Tigers reliever Jamie Walker.

... Detroit is 28-15 at Kauffman Stadium since the start of the '06 season.

... Kansas City has played more extra-inning contests than any AL team with 17 after Friday's 9-5 loss in 11 innings. The Royals are 10-7 in those games.



Pitching matchup

TIGERS: RHP Rick Porcello (7-11, 5.20 ERA)
After all the ups and downs of his sinker, Porcello might be rounding into a nasty late-season form. He has allowed a run on five hits over 14 innings in his last two starts, including seven scoreless innings against the Royals at Comerica Park.

ROYALS: LHP Bruce Chen (9-7, 4.76 ERA)
Chen worked six-plus innings of two-run ball against the Indians on Sunday for his team-leading ninth win of the season. The 33-year-old lefty is 8-7 in 17 starts since joining the Royals' rotation May 30.


RECENT RESULTS: The Tigers defeated the Kansas City Royals 9-5 in 11 innings last night at Kauffman Stadium. Ryan Perry (2-0) tossed two scoreless innings of relief for the victory. Don Kelly led the Tigers offense with three hits, while Ryan Raburn collected two hits, including a solo home run, and two RBI. Brandon Inge and Will Rhymes also added two RBI, while Alex Avila collected two hits and a RBI in the win. The Tigers continue a 10-game road trip tonight with the second game of a three-game series against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Following the conclusion of the current road trip, the club heads home for seven games beginning Monday afternoon.

EXTRA, EXTRA, EXTRA: The Tigers played their third consecutive extra-inning game last night at Kansas City, marking the first time the club has played three consecutive extrainning games since also playing three straight extra-inning games from July 11-16, 1976.

A COUPLE OF COMEBACKS: The Tigers overcame a four-run deficit to defeat the Royals 9-5 last night at Kauffman Stadium. It is the second four-run comeback victory in as many games for the Tigers and marks the first time the Tigers have overcome a deficit of at least four runs in consecutive games since posting four-run comebacks in back-to-back games against the Royals on July 13-14, 2006. (Source: STATS, LLC)

MORE ABOUT COMEBACKS: The four-run comeback last night at Kansas City marked the eighth time this season that the Tigers have come back from a four-run deficit to win, the highest total for any team in the major leagues. It marks the most comebacks by a Tigers team after trailing by four-or-more runs in a single season since posting nine such comebacks during the 1950 season. (Source: Elias Sports Bureau)

RABURN ON A ROLL: Ryan Raburn enters tonight’s game at Kansas City hitting .340 (35x103) with seven doubles, 10 home runs and 25 RBI over his last 27 games dating back to August 5. He leads the American League with 25 RBI during that stretch, while he is tied for the lead with 10 home runs and second with a .699 slugging percentage.

INGE CLOSING IN ON 200 DOUBLES: Brandon Inge enters tonight’s game at Kansas City one double shy of 200 during his major league career. With one more double he would become the 26th player in franchise history to collect 200 doubles.

SUCCESSFUL TRIPS TO KAUFFMAN STADIUM: Since the start of the 2006 season, the Tigers have compiled a 28-15 record in games played against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. During the 43-game stretch, the Tigers are hitting .298 (465x1561) with 260 runs scored, 93 doubles, 12 triples and 56 home runs. Detroit’s pitchers have compiled a 3.69 ERA (376.0IP/154ER) over the course of the 43 games.

PERALTA PICKING UP THE PRODUCTION: Jhonny Peralta finished with one hit last night against the Royals and is batting .329 (24x73) with three doubles, five home runs and 17 RBI over his last 18 games dating back to August 15. He is tied for fourth in the American League with 17 RBI during that stretch.

MIGGY MASHES AGAINST THE ROYALS: Miguel Cabrera enters tonight’s game at Kansas City Royals hitting .351 (67x191) with 10 doubles, 14 home runs and 43 RBI in 49 games against the club. He is fourth among all active major league players with a .351 batting average against the Royals, while he is fifth with a .623 slugging percentage.

WILL WIELDING A HOT BAT: Will Rhymes collected one hit last night against the Royals and has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games. Rhymes ranks third among all American League rookies with a .310 batting average (36x116) since the all-star break.

SOMETHING ABOUT ST. PIERRE: When Max St. Pierre makes his major league debut he will become the oldest Tigers position player to make his major league debut since Mike Roarke made his debut behind the plate at Cleveland Stadium against the Indians on April 19, 1961. Roarke was 30 years, 162 days old when he made his debut, while St. Pierre enters play tonight 30 years, 141 days.

IT STARTS WITH PITCHING: Tigers starting pitchers have logged a quality start in 12 of the last 14 games, posting a 7-1 record and 2.21 ERA (97.2IP/24ER) during the stretch. Tigers starting pitchers have fanned 74 batters while walking 18 over the 14 games.

POSTING A DOUBLE-DIGIT HIT TOTAL: The Tigers finished with 13 hits last night at Kansas City, marking the 61st time during the 2010 season the club has finished with 10-or-more hits in a game. Detroit has compiled a 43-18 record in the 61 games with a double-digit hit total.

TIGERS AT WHITE SOX ADDED TO ESPN ON SEPTEMBER 19: The Tigers game at Chicago on September 19, originally scheduled to begin at 2:05 p.m. Eastern, has been selected for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. As a result, the start time has been changed to 8:09 p.m. Eastern.

INJURY UPDATE:
• RHP Zach Miner (Partial tear in right elbow, 60-day DL on March 26, Had successful Tommy John surgery May 28, Out for Season),
• LHP Bobby Seay (Torn rotator cuff, 60-day DL on March 26, surgery on September 15, Out for Season),
• OF Magglio Ordonez (right ankle fracture, 15-day DL on July 25, Had surgery surgery Aug. 25, Out for Season),
• INF Danny Worth (bruised left heel, 15-day DL on August 4, Out for Season),
• RHP Joel Zumaya (non-displaced fracture of the olecranon, 60-day DL on June 29, Underwent elbow surgery July 12, Out for Season).
• Carlos Guillen (Bruised left knee, 15-day DL on August 23)


Out for Season
Expected Back


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Up next (Probable Pitchers)


• Sunday, September 5,
TIGERS (RHP Armando Galarraga (4-5, 3.98 ERA)) AT ROYALS (RHP Kyle Davies (6-9, 5.23 ERA)), 2:10 p.m. ET (FS-D HD / AM 1270 & 97.1 FM)

• Monday, September 6,
TIGERS (RHP Max Scherzer (10-9, 3.45 ERA)) VS WHITE SOX (To Be Announced (0-0, 0.00 ERA)), 1:05 p.m. ET (FS-D HD / AM 1270 & 97.1 FM)

• Tuesday, September 7,
TIGERS (RHP Justin Verlander (14-8, 3.61 ERA)) VS WHITE SOX (To Be Announced (0-0, 0.00 ERA)), 7:05 p.m. ET (FS-D HD / AM 1270 & 97.1 FM)

• Wednesday, September 8,
TIGERS (RHP Jeremy Bonderman (7-9, 5.25 ERA)) VS WHITE SOX (To Be Announced (0-0, 0.00 ERA)), 7:05 p.m. ET (FS-D HD / AM 1270 & 97.1 FM)

STARTING LINEUPS:

Detroit AVG
Jackson, A, CF .305
Damon, DH .264
Raburn, LF .258
Cabrera, M, 1B .336
Peralta, J, SS .251
Inge, 3B .255
Wells, C, RF .333
St. Pierre, M, C .000
Rhymes, 2B .310
Totals .270

Kansas City AVG
Blanco, G, CF .268
Maier, RF .259
Butler, 1B .309
Ka'aihue, DH .185
Fields, 3B .200
Gordon, A, LF .230
May, C .000
Getz, 2B .237
Betancourt, Y, SS .267
Totals .274