(Sports Network) - The Detroit Tigers take aim at their sixth straight win this afternoon when they try to complete a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals at Comerica Park.
The Tigers continued to roll on Tuesday, as Will Rhymes and Brennan Boesch each finished with two hits and a pair of runs batted in to back seven shutout innings by Rick Porcello, helping Detroit to a 9-1 win. Ryan Raburn went 2- for-4 with a solo homer and scored twice for the Tigers, who pounded out 16 hits and have won eight of their last 11.
The Tigers, who won seven straight earlier in the year from June 11-18 in interleague play, have also scored in the first inning in each of their last six games, the club's longest since doing it seven straight times from May 14-22, 1984. Detroit won the World Series that year.
Porcello (6-11), a loser in seven of his previous eight decisions entering the contest, allowed only two hits and one walk, while fanning four.
"I think we had a good combination of fastballs and sliders to keep them off- balance," Porcello said. "For the most part I was able to throw both those for strikes. I had one little hiccup in the sixth there, I kind of lost it for a couple of batters, but for most of the game we were pretty consistent."
Johnny Damon also reached base three times after stating before the game that he in fact would block a potential trade to the Boston Red Sox, who claimed him off waivers on Monday.
Kila Ka'aihue hit two-out homer in the ninth inning for Kansas City, which has dropped two in a row after winning five of the previous seven games. The Royals have also lost six in a row and 15 of 18 away from home.
Kyle Davies (6-8) was roughed up for 12 hits and seven runs over 4 2/3 innings. The veteran right-hander struck out five and walked three in falling to 2-7 in 10 lifetime starts against Detroit.
"You have to tip your hat to them. They swung the bats well and were really aggressive," Davies said of the Tigers.
Heading to the hill for the Tigers today will be right-hander Armando Galarraga, who is coming off a terrific effort his last time out. Galarraga won for the first time in nine starts on Friday against Cleveland, scattering three hits in seven scoreless innings to run his record to 4-5 on the year to go along with a 4.21 earned run average.
Galarraga is 2-0 in six games (five starts) against the Royals with a 2.78 ERA.
Kansas City, meanwhile, will counter with righty Sean O'Sullivan, who is 0-4 as a starter since being acquired from the Angels in late July. O'Sullivan, though, did get a win with a scoreless inning of relief on Sunday against Chicago to improve to 2-4 on the year.
This will be his first-ever appearance against the Tigers.
The Royals, who have dropped six of their 11 meetings with the Tigers, have not been swept in Detroit since 2002.