The Detroit Tigers had a golden opportunity to take advantage of some losses by the Chicago White Sox and take the lead in the AL Central prior to their crucial upcoming series, but find themselves fighting off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals. Chicago saw its six-game winning streak broken against the Baltimore Orioles and they had dropped two straight prior to Wednesday, before coming back with an 8-1 win, while the Tigers suffered a lowly 1-0 shutout at the same time.
Detroit will take on Chicago for a crucial three-game set on Friday, and will meet them again on Sept. 10. The Tigers are three games back in the AL Central, which is definitely a two-team race at this point. But first, the Tigers really have to try and pick up a win against the Royals - they can beat the White Sox all they want, but if they don't beat teams like Kansas City, they won't win the division.
Rick Porcello will take the mound for the Tigers. He's 9-9 on the season with a 4.60 earned-run average. He's coming off a loss to the Angels on Aug. 24, but only gave up two runs over six innings in that outing and suffered from a lack of run support. Jeremy Guthrie will take the mound for the Royals, with a lowly 5-12 record and a 5.71 ERA. He gave up six runs over 2.2 innings in his last outing, but was given a no-decision.
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