Tigers vs Royals Gamethread 60

An opportunity to take a series from Detroit

After a masterful performance from Michael Wacha yesterday, helping the Royals to a 1-0 victory over the division leading Tigers, the Royals have a chance to take the series from them this afternoon with ace Kris Bubic on the bump.

Bubic just wrapped up a fantastic month of May, where his final stat line was: 3-0, 0.56 ERA (2 ER in 32.1 IP), 4 QS, 8 BB, 33 K, .182 AVG. His 0.56 ERA in May is the lowest by any Royals starter in a month (min. 5 starts) since Zack Greinke (0.55 ERA in Sept. 2009). Oh and it’s the BEST EVER by a Royals lefty in any month (min. 5 starts). (Via Dave Holtzman on X).

Hopefully Bubic can continue that in a crucial game for the Royals. Here is the lineup behind him today, which includes John Rave leading off for the first time in his MLB career.

The Tigers are still 38-21 on the season after the loss yesterday. They send right handed pitcher Keider Montero to the mound today. Of the three guys the Tigers have started, this is the less imposing of the three so hopefully the Royals get to him. The Tigers lineup behind him is as follows.

Today wraps up a homestand for the Royals, where they are currently 2-3 on it. They have an off day tomorrow before heading across state for three with St. Louis, so a win would be nice today. They are also 2-4 versus Detroit this season, and head to head tiebreakers at the end of the season could be important, so being 3-4 with 6 game left against them is better than being 2-5.

First pitch is at 1:10 p.m. central time. Let’s hope the boys in blue have a happy flight to St. Louis.