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Tigers-Royals Preview

Sep 10, 2009 - 5:26 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Detroit (75-62) at Kansas City (53-85), 2:10 p.m. EDT

Jarrod Washburn should be well rested as he tries to help the Detroit Tigers get back on track.

The veteran left-hander looks to prevent the first-place Tigers from being swept by the lowly Kansas City Royals on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium.

After having his scheduled start Saturday skipped because of a sore left knee, Washburn (9-8, 3.55 ERA) takes the mound for the first time since Aug. 31.

"Any doctor that's seen (the knee) told me there's probably some cartilage damage in there," Washburn told the Tigers' official Web site, "so it's probably not going to go away."

Despite the nagging injury, Washburn appears ready to help the Tigers (75-63) avoid being swept for the first time since the New York Yankees did it July 17-19.

In order to give Detroit - 5 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota in the AL Central - a chance, Washburn's going to have to be better than he was in his last start when he allowed eight runs in 5 2-3 innings to take the loss in an 11-7 defeat to Tampa Bay.

Washburn is 1-2 with a 6.81 ERA in six starts since being acquired in a trade with Seattle at the deadline.

"Some of it by his own doing and some of it was that's just the way it is sometimes," manager Jim Leyland said.

Washburn is 8-6 with a 2.97 ERA in 18 starts against the Royals. He threw a three-hitter over eight innings, but didn't earn a decision in a 1-0 win over Kansas City on Aug. 14.

The Tigers had four hits in that contest and mustered only five in a 5-1 loss to Kansas City (54-85) on Wednesday. Detroit has dropped the first two of this series after winning six in a row coming into the set.

Detroit's Aubrey Huff, who had two RBIs in Tuesday's 7-5 loss, singled and is batting .300 against Kansas City this season.

Billy Butler had three doubles and drove in two runs Wednesday for the Royals, who've won three in a row and are looking for their first series sweep since taking all three against Cincinnati from June 12-14.

Owner of the second-worst record in the majors, Kansas City has not swept a series of at least three games against an AL opponent since sweeping the Tigers from Sept. 22-24.

Butler, the first player since at least 1954 to have four games with three or more doubles in a season, is 12 for 20 with nine RBIs in his last five games. He's batting .314 with eight RBIs against the Tigers this season.

"I think the sky's the limit for him as long as he continues to learn at the rate that he's learned between last year and this year," Royals manager Trey Hillman said.

Lenny DiNardo was recalled from Triple-A Omaha to make his first appearance of the season for the Royals in an attempt to give ace Zack Greinke an extra day of rest.

The left-hander, who was signed to a minor league contract by Kansas City in December, is 9-12 with a 5.66 ERA in 29 career starts over five seasons with Boston and Oakland.

DiNardo, who was 10-5 with a 3.32 ERA in 29 games for Omaha, makes his first start against Detroit, but has a 20.25 ERA in two relief appearances against the Tigers.