A night after grabbing the outright AL Central division lead, the Detroit Tigers will seek to add to it and sweep the Kansas City Royals in the process at home on Thursday afternoon. The Royals will be trying their hardest to stop them.
Doug Fister (10-9, 3.43 ERA) takes the mound for the Tigers after a complete game shutout of the Minnesota Twins in his last start on Sept. 22. In that outing, Fister gave up seven hits and struck out seven while allowing zero walks.
Kansas City will try to snap their four-game losing skid by countering with starter Luis Mendoza (8-9, 4.44 ERA), a winner in his last start, going six innings and giving up two earned runs in a 6-3 defeat of the Cleveland Indians on Sept. 21.
The Tigers earned a 5-4 win on Wednesday night following shortstop Jhonny Peralta's RBI groundout in the bottom of the eighth inning and Jose Valverde's 32nd save of the season in the ninth. The victory gave Detroit a full one-game advantage over the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central after Chicago lost at home to the Indians, 6-4.
Game-time is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. CT at Comerica Park on Thursday, and can be seen on FOX Sports Kansas City.