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Royals-Tigers Preview

Apr 11, 2010 - 11:15 PM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Kansas City (2-3) at Detroit (4-1), 1:05 p.m. EDT

The Detroit Tigers haven't cooled off at the plate since a strong season-opening series against the Kansas City Royals.

Following arguably their most exciting game of the season, the Tigers open a three-game series with the Royals on Monday.

Detroit (5-1) won two of three games against Kansas City (2-4) last week, scoring a total of 15 runs in the victories. The Tigers then combined for nine runs in two straight wins over Cleveland before rallying from six runs down in a 9-8 victory Sunday.

Carlos Guillen scored the winning run on a wild pitch, capping a three-run ninth. Guillen drove in Magglio Ordonez with a double to get Detroit within one.

"We play nine innings, and we hung in there," Leyland said.

The Tigers had 18 hits and had plenty of opportunities to score more runs, stranding 18. Ordonez had two hits and two RBIs and Miguel Cabrera went 3 for 3.

Ordonez, trying to bounce back from a subpar season, is batting .462 with two homers and six RBIs. The veteran right fielder went 7 for 14 against the Royals last week.

Cabrera went 8 for 14 in that series, and is batting .522 with two homers and eight RBIs this season. He had hits in eight straight at-bats against Luke Hochevar (0-0, 0.00) before going 0 for 3 in Detroit's 3-2, 11-inning win Wednesday night.

Hochevar, who is starting this series' opener, gave up five hits in 7 2/3 shutout innings, a promising start for the 2006 No. 1 overall pick. He went 1-10 with an 8.21 ERA in his final 13 starts last year.

The right-hander is 1-2 with a 4.85 ERA in four starts and one relief appearance versus the Tigers.

Detroit will counter with Max Scherzer (0-0, 0.00 ERA), who matched up with Hochevar last week, and allowed only one hit and two walks in six innings.

Scherzer, a native of St. Louis, fared well in his home state despite a cold and rainy evening that kept him from keeping a clean grip on the ball.

The right-hander earned a win in his only other appearance against Kansas City, allowing two runs in six innings for Arizona in a 12-5 victory June 17.

Kansas City was held to three runs in three of four games prior to an 8-6 loss to Boston on Sunday. The Royals could have had more, but went 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

Jose Guillen hit his first two homers of the season and drove in four runs for Kansas City. Guillen had one RBI through his first five games.

"He's been swinging the bat well, he really has," manager Trey Hillman told the Royals' official Web site. "I think he's got a chance to drive in a lot of runs."