KC Royals Return Home To Tangle With Tigers

The KC Royals return home to Kauffman Stadium on the heels of their first series defeat, where they’ll square off against the Tigers and Orioles this week. Kansas City started the road trip 4-1 before back-to-back defeats in Oakland left them at 4-3.

The Kansas City Royals return to divisional play after seven versus AL West opponents this past week, Detroit struggled in Houston but will no doubt want to knock off the champs this week.

Probable Pitching Match-Ups
Tuesday, 6:15 pm – Shane Greene/RHP (1-0, 2.57) v. Yordano Ventura/RHP (0-0, 2.45)
Wednesday, 6:15 pm – Jordan Zimmerman/RHP (2-0, 0.00) v. Ian Kennedy/RHP (1-0, 0.66)
Thursday, 6:15 pm – Mike Pelfrey/RHP (0-2, 6.52) v. Edinson Volquez/RHP (2-0, 2.04)

Comments on Pitching Match-Ups – We’re lucky that this series will see some pretty good pitching match-ups from guys who’ve started off 2016 pretty good. Pelfrey is the only guy of the six who looks out of place which goes to show how far both staffs have come.

More from Kings of Kauffman

Game 1: Last season the KC Royals got to Greene a few times when he toed the rubber against our boys in blue, what adjustments will be made? Ventura has yet to register a tally in the left or right stat column but his last start in Houston was better than his first versus Minnesota.
Game 2: Zimmerman has been sharp for his new team, winning twice and not allowing a run thus far. On the other side Kennedy has also been a nice surprise for his new team despite a 1-0 record.
Game 3: Detroit revamped their rotation which is the aforementioned Pelfrey who looks like the oddity in this series but he did have success last year while a Twin against the Kansas City Royals. Volquez has produced a nice outing each time out this season against the Mets, Twins and A’s what does he have on tap this start?

Series Outlook – Ian Kinsler, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez are still around for the 7-4 Tigers. Regardless of what they’ve done for their offense and starting rotation we need to address their bullpen which now sees Francisco Rodriguez (aka K-Rod) closing out games, they continue to struggle getting all 27 outs in games. Despite being 8-4, fans have angst over Joakim Soria pitching the eighth inning due to struggling on Opening Night and Sunday afternoon at the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum. While the struggles are I guess a concern, Ned Yost likely won’t make a change despite some fans wanting it. On the flipside Omar Infante continues to surprise everyone early on.

Prediction – KC Royals take two out of threee

2015 Meetings
The Kansas City Royals took 10 of 19 match-ups against their divisional opponent from Detroit. Incredibly, Kansas City outscored the Tigers 107-66 in those meetings which is just incredible.

Franchise History
All-time it’s in favor of Detroit who’s 171-153 against our KC Royals, however in the city of fountains KC holds a mark of 168-153 at Memorial/Kauffman Stadium.

TV/Radio Coverage
FOX Sports Kansas City will broadcast all four games from Houston with Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler. Joel Goldberg and Royals Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery host Royals Live before and after the games.

On the Royals Radio Network (610 Sports in KC) will be Royals Hall of Famer/2007 Ford C. Frick Award winner Denny Matthews who’s joined in the booth by Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart.

Nationally, ESPN’s Wednesday Night Baseball will originate from the K and on Thursday FOX Sports 1 will will have national coverage for the series finale. Another note for fans, start times for the rest of April will be 6:15 for home games (which will also be the case in September) to accommodate younger fans/families.

2016 Series Schedule/Results v. Tigers:
April 19-21, Kauffman Stadium:
June 17-19, Kauffman Stadium:
July 15-17, Comerica Park:
August 15-17, Comerica Park:
September 2-4, Kauffman Stadium:
September 23-25, Comerica Park:

Next: Ned Yost Should Move Chris Young To Pen

Game Notes:
Detroit Tigers
Kansas City Royals