We all knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but losing last night still puts the Royals behind the eight ball in this series. It’s made all the more frustrating by just how hard they were hitting Tigers’ starter Casey Mize last night, but without much luck, until even the hard hits dried up.
The Royals can set themselves up to attempt to steal the series tomorrow by winning tonight. The pitching matchup, perhaps more than any other this weekend, favors the Royals. Michael Wacha will pitch for KC; new
Tiger Chris Paddack will go for the Motor City bunch.
Wacha has been terrific for the Royals this year with a 3.34 ERA in 25 starts for KC this season. The only thing he hasn’t done well is pitch deep into games, having recorded an out in the seventh inning only five times all season. Still, even going six would be a huge boon for a bullpen that has been overworked to the point that Bailey Falter had to pitch in the eighth inning of a tie game with disastrous results last night.
Chris Paddack came over to the Tigers during the Twins’ great fire sale. He was mediocre for Minnesota this year, but has a 5.91 ERA in four starts for Detroit. Interestingly, that’s two good starts against the Diamondbacks and White Sox, but a pair of awful starts, both against his former team. Despite pitching for a division rival his entire career, he has only faced the Royals once since the beginning of last season; he gave up four runs in 5.1 innings on May 30 last year in what became a come-from-behind win for the Twins.
Lineups
The Royals are DHing Mike Yastrzemski, and Randal Grichuk will play in left field for this one. All eyes will be on Vinnie Pasquantino to see if he can break the Royals’ record for most consecutive games with a home run. He tied the record with Mike Sweeney and Salvador Perez during last night’s contest. He had a home run against Paddack the last time they faced each other, his only hit in three at-bats.
The Tigers will have only one below-average hitter in the lineup tonight in the form of catcher Jake Rogers. Michael Wacha will have his work cut out for him.
