Royals Look To Bounceback Against Tigers
The first half of baseball is winding down, as the MLB prepares for the All-Star break. That is the last think on the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers’ mind, however, as they prepare for the second game in a very important four-game series against each other.
If the Royals can win the rest of the games in the series they will come within striking distance of their division rivals and current division leader, the Tigers. Currently, the Tigers have 5.5 games on the Royals.
The Royals, though, have hit some bad luck in this most crucial of times. All-Star out fielder, Alex Gordon will be missing the All-Star game and the rest of this series thanks to a sprained right wrist. On top of that, top starter Jason Vargas was also placed on the disabled list recently. All of this resulted in the Tigers pummeling the Royals in the series opener, 16-4 on Thursday.
The Royals will be looking to regain their footing in this game. However, they need to beat the division leaders, if not just make some leeway in the division race, then to send a message that they are serious contenders.
They hope to do just that with lefty Danny Duffy on the mound. Duffy is very familiar with the Tigers. It was a short three weeks ago that he pitched seven innings against the Tigers, allowing three hits, two earned runs and striking out five.
In his last outing he had a tougher time of it. Against the Cleveland Indians he gave up four runs in a loss, two of those runs came by way of homers.
Duffy has a 2.86 ERA and whether or not his last performance was the signs of rut or if he quickly bounce back will be decided tonight.
The Tigers will counter with Anibal Sanchez.
Sanchez has not been in tip-top shape either. In his last trip to the mound he held the Tamp Bay Rays scoreless before allowing a season-high seven runs.
Sanchez’s familiarity with Kansas City dates back to earlier in the season when he held the Royals to just one run over seven innings in a 2-1 victory. However, he failed to strike out a single batter in that game.
Sanchez has a solid 3.18 ERA.
The Tigers are the favorites to win this with a –125 moneyline. The moneyline for the Royals is +105. The game starts at 8:10 p.m. ET.
