DETROIT TIGERS NOTES:

TIGERS EDGE ROYALS 3-2 ON WEDNESDAY: The Tigers picked up another one-run win last night, defeating the Royals, 3-2. Riley Greene had three hits, including a double, while Javier Báez added a solo home run, his seventh of the season. Kerry Carpenter had a game-tying RBI single in the sixth inning, while Miguel Cabrera added a go-ahead, run-scoring single later in the inning. Eduardo Rodriguez started and earned his sixth win of the season, allowing two runs on four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts in 7.0 innings. Jason Foley and Alex Lange each pitched a scoreless inning to close out the victory.

MIGGY MAGIC: Miguel Cabrera put the Tigers in front with a RBI single in the sixth inning of last night’s game. It marked the 3,131st hit of his Major League career, placing him 10 hits away from tying Tony Gwynn (3,141) for 20th on the all-time hits list. Dating back to May 30, Cabrera is batting .333/.414/.452 with seven doubles, a home run and 10 RBI.

GREENE MACHINE: Riley Greene notched his third three-hit game of the season last night, finishing the contest 3×4 with a double. Greene has hit safely in 30 of his last 38 games, over which he is batting .347/.420/.514 with 10 doubles, a triple, four home runs and 14 RBI.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH KC: The Tigers and Royals played their third consecutive one-run game last night. Close games have been the norm between these two teams in recent seasons. Dating back to 2021, 31 of the 47 games have been decided by one or two runs.

ON THE ROAD: The Tigers are 4-2 on their current seven-game road trip, which includes three games at Seattle (2-1) and four games at Kansas City (2-1). Detroit is 23-27 on the road this season. The Tigers are hitting .221/.288/.362 as a team on the road, while the pitching staff has a 4.32 ERA (433.2IP/208ER).

TIGERS AND ROYALS: The Tigers and Royals conclude their third series of the season today. The two teams will wrap up their season series in a three-game series at Comerica Park from September 26-28. Detroit is 6-3 against Kansas City this year, including a 4-2 record at Kauffman Stadium. With a win today, the Tigers can clinch the season series from the Royals for the second straight season.

AGAINST THE AL CENTRAL: The Tigers continue divisional play today against the Royals. Detroit is 17-12 against American League Central teams so far this season. The Tigers have won six of the eight series they have played against divisional foes.

ON DECK: The Tigers return home tomorrow to begin a seven-game homestand, which starts with a three-game series against the Padres. The two teams met last season at Comerica Park with Detroit winning two-of-three games. The Tigers have an 11-7 advantage in the all-time series, including a 5-1 edge in Detroit.

TIGERS ON THE IL:

• LHP Tyler Alexander (left lat/shoulder strain, 60-day IL on July 4, retroactive to July 3)
• LHP Matthew Boyd (left elbow sprain, 60-day IL on June 27)
• OF Austin Meadows (anxiety, 60-day IL on April 8, retroactive to April 7)
• RHP Casey Mize (right elbow sprain, 60-day IL on February 17)
• RHP Freddy Pacheco (right elbow sprain, 60-day IL on March 27)
• RHP Spencer Turnbull (neck discomfort, 60-day IL on May 12, retroactive to May 7)
• RHP Will Vest (right lower leg strain, 15-day IL on June 27)

TODAY’S TIGERS STARTING PITCHER

21 Michael Lorenzen • 4-6, 3.75 ERA (93.2IP/39ER)

• Lorenzen will make his 17th start of the season today in the series finale at Kansas City.
• Earned his fourth win of the season on Saturday at Seattle, working 6.2 scoreless innings with two hits allowed, five walks and seven strikeouts…extended his scoreless innings streak to a career-best 16.2, dating back to the third inning on June 30 at Colorado.
• Has made three appearances, including two starts, in his career against Kansas City, and has a 0-1 record with a 4.26 ERA (12.2IP/6ER)…faced the Royals earlier this season on June 20 and took the loss, allowing a run on five hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in 6.0 innings… in two career outings at Kauffman Stadium, he has a 0-0 record with a 6.75 ERA (6.2IP/5ER) and five strikeouts.
• Named to the American League All-Star Team, his first career selection to the All-Star Game…pitched a scoreless two-thirds of an inning in the Midsummer Classic, allowing a hit with one walk and a strikeout…fanned Pete Alonso to escape a jam with runners on first and second.
• Made five starts during May, posting a 2-1 record with a 1.95 ERA (32.1IP/7ER) and 20 strikeouts…among qualified Major League pitchers in May, he ranked tied for sixth in ERA (1.95) and ninth in WHIP (0.87).

KANSAS CITY ROYALS NOTES:

BATS FALL SILENT: The Royals were held to just 5 hits in last night’s 3-2 loss to the Tigers and Kauffman Stadium, in which they fell to a season-high-tying 41 games under .500 (28-69)…Eduardo Rodriguez retired the first 13 batters before Matt Duffy singled with 1 out in the 5th, which began a span of 3 hits in four batters, including a game-tying RBI double by Michael Massey and a go-ahead RBI double by Kyle Isbel…but Royals starter Ryan Yarbrough gave the lead right back in the 6th, when Riley Greene led off with a double and scored on Kerry Carpenter’s RBI single…Yarbrough exited due to left hamstring cramps with a 3-0 count on Javier Báez, who walked to extend the inning to Miguel Cabrera, who hit the go-ahead RBI single off Carlos Hernández.

The Royals had runners at the corners in the 9th, but Isbel struck out on 3 pitches to end the game.

The Royals have lost 10 of their last 13 games after starting the month with back-to-back wins.

ROSTER MOVES: Following last night’s game, the Royals optioned right hander Max Castillo to Triple-A Omaha…he allowed only 1 hit over 3.0 scoreless innings last night, his first action since being recalled on Sunday.

In a corresponding move, right hander Zack Greinke was recalled from the 15-day IL, on which he was placed on July 5 with right shoulder tendinitis…Zack today will make his 1st start since July 4 in Minneapolis…thanks to the All-Star break, he missed only 10 team games and one turn through the rotation.

GOOD AS GOLD: Salvador Perez has caught Zack Greinke in 29 games since Greinke returned to Kansas City last season, forming a historic duo as batterymates…Greinke has won six Rawlings Gold Gloves, which are 7th most among pitchers, and Perez has won five Rawlings Gold Gloves, which rank tied for 6th among catchers…according to Elias, Greinke and Perez are just the second starting batterymates to each have at least five Rawlings Gold Gloves…the other was Iván Rodríguez and Kenny Rogers, who played in 28 games together with these Detroit Tigers from 2007-08, following Rogers’ fifth Gold Glove season in 2006.

BLOWN LEADS: The Royals held a 2-1 lead into the 6th inning last night, when Riley Greene doubled to begin the frame and scored on Kerry Carpenter’s RBI single…Miguel Cabrera later added what proved to be the game-deciding RBI knock as Kansas City suffered its Majors-most 34th blown lead loss of the season, ahead of the White Sox (30), Athletics (30) and Cardinals (29)…last night marked the Royals 3rd blown lead loss in 6 games since the All-Star break…the Royals 34 blown lead losses for the season are only 2 shy of their total from all of last season, when they suffered 36 blown lead losses, and are 19 shy of the franchise record of 53, set during their 103-loss 2019 campaign…the Royals have held a lead in 47 of their last 68 games (69.1%) since the start of May, but they’re 21-47 (.309) during that stretch with 26 blown lead losses.

They’re 7-23 when scoring in the 1st inning and have lost 13 of their last 15 games when scoring in the 1st.

STARTING SOMETHING: In their last 7 games, Royals starters have a 3.46 ERA (16 ER in 41.2 IP), which ranks 8th in the Majors and 4th in the American League during that time (since July 9)…they’ve issued just 8 walks in 41.2 innings during that stretch for a 1.7 BB/9 and 4.8 BB%, both of which rank 4th in the Majors…Royals starters have also thrown first-pitch strikes to 119 of 166 batters during this 7-game stretch (71.7%), far better than the team’s season rate of 60.5%, which ranks 22nd in the Majors, well behind the league-leading Mariners (64.1%).

VS. TIGERS: The Royals are 3-6 vs. the Tigers this season, and with another setback today, they would clinch the season series loss for the second straight year, after going 9-10 in 2022…the Royals have not lost the season series to Detroit in consecutive seasons since 2011-12, and won seven of nine season series from 2013-21.

With a win today, the Royals would salvage a 4-game split of this set, and would snap a run of four straight losing series to the Tigers since their last win from Sept. 2-4, 2022 at Detroit, where they won 2 of 3.

CLOSE CALLS: Over the last four seasons (since 2020), 42 of the 57 games between the Royals and Tigers (73.7%) have been decided by 3 runs or fewer, including 24 1-run games (42.1%)…through 9 games this season, the Royals and Tigers have played 8 games decided by 3 runs or fewer, including all 6 games in Kansas City.

All 3 games in this series have been decided by 1 run…the Royals have not had 4 consecutive games decided by 1 run since last Sept. 24-28, including 2 games in Detroit vs. these Tigers and 2 games vs. Seattle…the Royals have not had all 4 games of a single series be decided by 1 run in 21 years, since July 4-11, 2002 at Oakland, where they won 1 game and lost 3 all by 1 run, including a pair of walk-off losses.

The Royals are an even 12-12 in 1-run games this season after going 16-20 in 1-run games last year.

TRIPLE THREAT: The Royals enter today with 25 triples, which are 6 more than the Reds, Guardians, Diamondbacks and Phillies (19 each) for the Major League lead…the Royals are attempting to lead the Majors in triples for the second straight season—after pacing the league with 38 in 2022…that was the first time they led the Majors in triples since 2009 (51), but the Royals 2,227 triples since their inception in 1969 are by far the most in the Majors, 138 more than the Pirates (2,089) and 293 more than the Tigers (1,934), the next closest AL team.

A Major League-most 11 different Royals have recorded a triple this season, a group led by Bobby Witt Jr., whose 6 triples rank 2nd in the Majors, 1 behind Shohei Ohtani (7)…Witt Jr.’s 12 career triples are tied with Brian McRae for the most by a Royal through a player’s first two seasons.

AFTERNOON DELIGHT: Today’s 1:10 p.m. CT start marks Kansas City’s 42nd day game of the season…thanks to last Saturday’s doubleheader, the Royals are now scheduled for 65 day games, which would mark the 2nd most in franchise history, trailing last year, when they played 69 matinees…the Royals are 15-26 in day games but are 12-13 in their last 25, and they’ve won 8 of their last 12 day games at home after beginning with 8 consecutive losses.

The Royals have 4 walk-off wins this season—matching their total from 2022—and all 4 have come in day games, including a 4-3 win on May 11 vs. the White Sox, a 3-2 win on May 28 vs. the Nationals, a 10-9 win vs. the Angels on June 17 and a 4-3 win in 10.0 innings on June 29 vs. the Guardians.

ON DECK: Following today’s homestand finale vs. Detroit, the Royals will fly to New York to begin a 3-game series at Yankee Stadium tomorrow night… the first trip of the 2nd half will continue next week with a 3-game set in Cleveland, which will cap a span of 9 games vs. the Guardians within 26 team games…the Royals are 13-34 (.277) on the road this season and have lost 20 of their last 25 road games, a stretch in which they’re 0-6-2 in road sets.

Following the upcoming trip, the Royals will enjoy an off day one week from today, which will snap a run of 13 straight days with a game…they will return to Kauffman Stadium for a 6-game homestand from July 28-Aug. 3 vs. the Twins and Mets, who will visit KC for the first time since 2019.

DRAFT SIGNINGS: The Royals announced yesterday that they have agreed to terms with 19 of their 21 selections from the 2023 First-Year Player Draft…the only exceptions are outfielder Donovan LaSalle and shortstop Blake Wilson, a pair of high school players who were selected in the 19th and 20th rounds, respectively…earlier this week, the Royals signed local undrafted free agent Noah Barber, the son of former NFL linebacker Sean Barber…Noah, 18, is a recent graduate of Blue Valley North High School just outside of Kansas City, and was committed to play football at KU in 2023

TODAY’S STARTER: RHP ZACK GREINKE (1-9, 5.44)
ZACK GREINKE is making his 19th start of the season and 533rd of his career today vs. Detroit, which ranks 35th on the all-time starts list, 3 shy of Hall of Famer Mike Mussina (536)…it’s his 34th career outing (31st start) vs. the Tigers and 2nd this year.

The 39-year-old Greinke, now in his 20th season in the Majors, is a six-time All-Star, a six-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner, 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner in 2009 with the Royals and a two-time ERA leader.

ZACK IS BACK: He is making his 1st start today since July 4 in Minneapolis, after which he was placed on the 15-day Injured List with right shoulder tendinitis…thanks to the All-Star break, he missed only 10 team games and one turn through the rotation.

Zack suffered a 9-3 loss in his most recent start on July 4 at Target Field, where he was charged with 6 runs on 7 hits—including 3 home runs—in 5.1 innings.

He allowed three straight to reach with 2 outs in the 1st inning, including an RBI single by Max Kepler…after a 1-2-3 2nd, he yielded a 2-out, 3-run HR to Kepler, after which he retired five straight before allowing back-to-back HR in the 5th by Donovan Solano and Byron Buxton…he retired the last two batters of the 5th and the first batter in the 6th before exiting in favor of Nick Wittgren.

WALKING ON WATER: Zack’s pinpoint control has been on full display this season, his 20th in the Majors…the 39-year-old has issued only 13 walks to the 390 batters he’s faced through 18 starts (92.2 IP) for a 1.3 BB/9 and 3.3 BB%, both of which rank 2nd in the Majors (min. 15 starts) behind George Kirby…he issued 1 walk or fewer in 10 straight starts from May 3-June 23, which marked the 2nd-longest streak in Royals history, 1 game shy of Jason Vargas, who issued 1 walk or fewer in 11 straight starts from May 26, 2015-April 24, 2017, a two-year stretch that was interrupted by injury.

He has had 14 starts this season in which he has issued 1 walk or fewer over at least 5.0 innings, which is tied with Kirby for the most such starts in the Majors.

Zack has allowed 18 home runs, which are 5 more than the number of walks he’s issued (13)…he and Kirby (13 HR, 11 BB) are the only pitchers (min. 15 starts) with more homers allowed than walks…no pitcher in Royals history has allowed more HR than walks while qualifying for the ERA title (1.0 IP/team game).

TIMES TABLES: Greinke has been very good through his first time through opponent lineups this season, holding them to a .235 average (35-for-149) with only 5 extra-base hits…but on the second and third time through, opponents are batting .290 (45- for-155) and .415 (27-for-65), respectively, with a total of 28 extra-base hits…along those same lines, he has held opponents to a .256 average (68-for-266) through 60 pitches, but when he gets above 60 pitches, opponents are batting .375 (39-for-104).

SEEKING SUPPORT: The Royals offense has scored just 29 runs in Greinke’s 92.2 innings this season for a 2.82 run support average, which is the lowest mark in the
Majors (min. 90.0 IP)…the Royals have supported Zack with 1 or 0 runs in 10 of his 18 starts, and have supported him with a total of 11 runs over his last 9 starts (46.0 IP).

VS. TIGERS: Zack is 13-8 with a 2.81 ERA (57 ER in 182.2 IP) in 33 career appearances (30 starts) vs. the Tigers, including a no decision on May 24 here at Kauffman
Stadium, where he allowed just 1 run in 5.0 innings of Kansas City’s 6-4 loss…despite the success he’s had vs. the Tigers in his career, he hasn’t beaten them in 11 years, since a 3-2 win on Sept. 9, 2012 with the Angels…in 6 starts vs. the Tigers since, he’s 0-2 despite a 3.12 ERA (12 ER in 34.2 IP), and his teams are just 1-5 in those 6 starts.