A month ago it didn\u2019t look like this series would be all that meaningful…but with Kansas City\u2019s recent strong play they are actually in the conversation as it relates to the American League Central and certainly the Wild Card race. <\/p>\n
Thursday Aug 14 ATS Matchup Stats<\/a> | Gambling Insight!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Check out our in-house Handicapper!!! Buy Razor Ray’s MLB Picks Today!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n They enter this series 7.5 games back f Detroit but just a game and a half back of Cleveland. They need to play well or else all their recent work could be for not. Kansas City is 5-3 against Detroit this season including a split of two games at Detroit back in April.<\/p>\n The reason for the surge by the Royals is that their pitching has held while their bats finally came alive.<\/p>\n Jeremy Guthrie is enjoying a fine season with the Royals and the team is 15-9 when he starts. He actually has a better record against the Tigers than I would have guessed at 7-3, but he was roughed up the last time he faced them, giving up 5 runs in 6 innings while collecting the victory.<\/p>\n Tigers Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera are hitting .375 against him so he better be careful.<\/p>\n Since their 12 game winning streak came to end the Detroit Tigers are just 2-4, which is a bit surprising given they were playing a couple of struggling teams in the Yankees and White Sox. They now return home and need to take care of business against K.C. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n At least they have a little momentum taking the final game of their set against the White Sox. 3B Miguel Cabrera hit his 38th homer and has homered in 6 of his last 8 games. His three RBI also reclaimed the lead in that category from the Orioles 1B Chris Davis.<\/p>\n Starter Anibal Sanchez is having a great season but the team is not always a winner when he takes the mound. Although he has an ERA more than a run better than Guthrie\u2019s the Tigers are just 11-9 when he starts. He is getting plenty of support too with an average of 5 runs per game but it must be oddly distributed for him to have those mediocre won-loss splits.<\/p>\n In 3 starts against the Royals he has an ERA of just 0.82 but is 1-2. They don\u2019t exactly have his number but he is not registering the wins you would expect either.<\/p>\n There are some strange things going on in terms of numbers in this game on Thursday. Guthrie gets hit well by the Tigers sluggers but he keeps the ball in the park while Sanchez gives up nothing and can\u2019t get a victory. It doesn\u2019t make sense but it doesn\u2019t mean it won\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n I am going to go with the historical angle especially given Detroit has been a bit off lately.<\/p>\n
\nComerica Park – Detroit, MI
\n7:08PM
\nProbable Starters:
\nKC: Jeremy Guthrie (R)
\nDET: Anibal Sanchez
\nMoneyline: Detroit -185, Kansas City +175
\nO\/U: 8.5<\/strong>
\n[dfads params=’groups=63740&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\nKansas City<\/h3>\n
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Detroit<\/h3>\n