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Miner, Tigers look to regain AL Central lead

Sep 30, 2006 - 3:27 PM Kansas City (60-100) at Detroit (95-65) 7:05 pm EDT

DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Detroit Tigers will need to turn around their slump if they want to win their first American League Central title.

The Tigers seek to halt a three-game losing streak when they face off against the Kansas City Royals in the second game of their season-ending weekend series on Saturday.

Dropping a 9-7 decision in 11 innings Friday, Detroit remained tied with Minnesota atop the AL Central Division with only two games remaining in the regular season.

Emil Brown hit the first of three homers in the 11th for the Royals, who notched just their second win in 11 games. The loss for the Tigers allowed the New York Yankees to clinch home-field advantage throughout the AL postseason.

Rookie Zach Miner (7-5, 4.37 ERA) will try and turn things around for Detroit as he makes his first start in over a month. In his previous outing, Miner was pounded for six runs and four hits in just 1 1/3 innings against the Chicago White Sox on August 23.

The righthander has worked out of the bullpen 11 times since then, allowing three runs in 13 1/3 frames.

Kansas City counters with Ambiorix Burgos (4-5, 5.60), who starts in place of injured starter Jorge De La Rosa. Burgos makes his first appearance as a starter after spending the past two seasons in the bullpen. The 22-year-old has not surrendered an earned run over his last six frames.

The Tigers' Curtis Granderson homered twice in Friday's loss for his first career multi-homer contest. His first blast helped Detroit collect 200 homers this season, making the eighth time that has been accomplished in franchise history.