This Saturday the (52-85) Detroit Tigers and the (56-82) Kansas City Royals will play game two of this three-game series. The first pitch will be thrown out at 7:10 PM EST inside Kauffman Stadium. These two teams also matched up last week, as the Kansas City Royals ended up taking two of three games from the Tigers.
The Detroit Tigers are coming into this one after a tough series against the Los Angeles Angels. The Tigers struggled at the plate, as they were shut out in game one and they lost in extras in game two! They will now be looking to bounce back on the road against the Royals.
The Kansas City Royals are entering this one after losing their previous series to the Cleveland Guardians. They lost game one in extra innings, but they only scored one run in game two. They will need to wake up at the dish if they want to take care of business in this one.
This game was wr itten/published before last night's results.
The Detroit Tigers are currently 3-7 in their last 10, as their poor play has dropped them even lower in the AL standings. They are now 24.5 games back from the Toronto Blue Jays for that third and final AL Wild Card Spot. They are also still in last place in the AL Central, as they are 19.0 games back from the Cleveland Guardians for first place.
At the plate, the Tigers are scoring 3.38 runs per game and they are hitting .229 as a team. This is the least amount of runs scored per game and the 26th lowest overall team batting average. They have struggled to make contact with the ball, which has made it much more difficult to score. The Tigers have also realized that they have very little power inside of their batting lineup. They are only hitting .63 bombs per game, which is the lowest average in the league. I also expect the Tigers to stay conservative once they have reached base safely. They have only stolen 38 bas es this season, which is the second least in the league. They don't have a ton of speed in their lineup and they can't risk losing these baserunners.
According to MLB.com, the Tigers will be starting Matt Manning on the mound. He is currently 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. In his last start, he pitched for 4.0 innings and allowed five hits and two earned runs to this same Royals team. Manning is also 0-0 on the road this season with a 6.00 ERA. Luckily, the Detroit bullpen has been solid this season. They have the ninth-lowest overall team bullpen ERA. As a team, the Tigers are allowing 4.61 runs per game, which is the 22nd most in the MLB.