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Tigers host Royals on Friday night
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 7/14/2016  at  12:23:00 PM
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KANSAS CITY ROYALS (45-43)

at DETROIT TIGERS (46-43)

First pitch: Friday, 7:10 p.m. ET
Line: N/A, Total: N/A

Both the Royals and the Tigers will be looking to come out of the break with a victory when they meet in Detroit on Friday.

The Tigers currently sit in second place in the AL Central, but they are only .5 games ahead of the Royals. Both of these teams will be looking to really get going in the second half of the year, but Kansas City needs to do some soul searching. The Royals won the World Series last year, but they entered the All-Star break as losers in seven of their past 10 games. A road win against the Tigers could get them going, and it’s not unlikely. Kansas City has been dominant against division rivals this season, going 21-11 against Central opponents on the year. The starters in this game are set to be RHP Ian Kennedy (6-7, 3.97 ERA 103 K) for the Royals and RHP Justin Verlander (8-6, 4.07 ERA, 120 K) for the Tigers. One thing that sticks out when looking at this game is that the Royals have struggled on the road this season, going just 16-30 against the money line when playing away from home. The Tigers, meanwhile, are a solid 23-16 against the money line at home and should be feeling confident coming into this one.

The Royals are hoping to turn things around in the second half of the season and Ian Kennedy will be the guy looking to help them get it started on Friday. Kennedy pitched pretty well heading into the break, allowing just six earned runs in 18.0 innings of work over his past three starts. He was missing a ton of bats in those games, as he struck out 29 batters in those three outings. Kennedy should also be confident facing this Tigers team as well. In his lone meeting with Detroit this season, Kennedy allowed just two earned runs in 6.1 innings of work. He struck out seven batters in that appearance and will be hoping for another performance like that on Friday. Some guys to watch out for offensively in this game are 1B Eric Hosmer (.299, 13 HR, 49 RBI), DH Kendrys Morales (.258, 15 HR, 47 RBI) and C Salvador Perez (.283, 14 HR, 41 RBI). Hosmer is coming off of an MVP award winning performance at the All-Star game and should be full of confidence. He is also 19-for-72 with five doubles, a homer and four RBI against Verlander in his career. Morales and Perez, meanwhile, are an impressive 34-for-83 with four homers and 23 RBI combined against the righty.

Justin Verlander will be starting for the Tigers on Friday and he pitched well heading into the break for the Tigers. Over his past two starts, Verlander allowed just three earned runs in 12.2 innings of work. He struck out 13 batters in those games and also did not allow a single homer. He’ll be hoping to pick up where he left off on Friday, but it won’t be easy against this Royals team. The last time he faced Kansas City, Verlander allowed four earned runs in seven innings. He did, however, allow eight hits and was fortunate to allow as few of runs as he did. Offensively, two guys to keep an eye on are 1B Miguel Cabrera (.293, 18 HR, 53 RBI) and 2B Ian Kinsler (.289, 16 HR, 52 RBI). The two of them have hit well against Kennedy in their matchups with the pitcher, going a combined 10-for-19 with five doubles and five RBI. Another guy that should be a factor in this game is OF Cameron Maybin (.341, 2 HR, 24 RBI). Maybin has been a machine since joining Detroit and will be counted on to get on base a few times in this one.


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