The Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers are playing an AL Central MLB baseball matchup on Thursday and the game starts past 1:08 pm ET and comes as KC has overtaken the Tigers in the division and the game has a live stream online from the MLB.com website as Danny Duffy and Anibal Sanchez matchup in the pitching duel.
The Royals have won 10 games in a row to take over the first place spot in the division standings and the team just beat up on Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer for two games and now they have the next best pitcher to deal with in Sanchez. The Royals have been hitting the ball well and pitching well and they are starting to build on the promise they had last season when they finished with a winning record for the first time in a decade. The Tigers started the season fast and looked like they would run away with the division, but they have come back to earth and now are in second place.
Sanchez has pitched very well over his last seven starts and he is 3-0 with a sub 2.00 ERA and he is the perfect guy to have on the mound for the game against the Tigers. Sanchez has been electric against the Royals in the past, winning three of his five starts and putting up a .99 ERA and they will need him to be that way again to snap this streak. The team has won just three of the past 10 games and the Tigers face off against Duffy, who is pitching well as of late, but he doesn't have a great record against the Tigers, going just 1-4 in his career.
The Royals are looking to keep things going in the division standings and they set a team mark with this run and they will start off a series with the Mariners coming up on Friday. The first game will see James Shields and Hisashi Iwakuma matchup in that game and that is a great matchup, as they are a combined 13-6 this season and are two of the best pitchers on either team. The Tigers are looking to snap this streak and the Royals come in hitting the ball well, ranking 14th in runs and fifth in batting average this season and the team is also 23rd in slugging percentage. The pitching has been solid, with the team ranking 14th in ERA and in the top 10 in quality starts this season.
The Tigers need to turn things around and they lost to Jeremy Guthrie as Greg Holland got the save for his 21st of the year and now the team is getting ready to start a series against the Indians. Rick Porcello will be on the mound for the team in that first game after this matchup
Check here for the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers live coverage from MLB.
