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Bonderman seeks to continue mastery of Royals

Apr 8, 2007 - 2:53 PM Detroit (2-2) at Kansas City (2-3) 2:10 pm EDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Detroit Tigers righthander Jeremy Bonderman seeks to continue his mastery of the Kansas City Royals in the rubber game of a weekend series.

Bonderman was 4-0 with a 3.41 ERA in five starts against the Royals last season.

Bonderman (0-0, 4.50) started on Opening Day for the Tigers in a 5-3, 10-inning loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. He allowed three runs in the first inning, but proceeded to throw five scoreless innings after that.

The Royals will counter with Brandon Duckworth (NR), who will be making his first start of the year. Duckworth missed the end of last season after having elbow surgery to remove bone chips. The righthander was 1-5 with a 6.11 ERA in 10 appearances with the Royals in 2006.

Duckworth's biggest concern Sunday may be Ivan Rodriguez, who continues to put up outstanding numbers against Kansas City.

Detroit's All-Star catcher is batting .355 (206-for-580) with 19 home runs in his career against Kansas City. Rodriguez connected for his first homer of the season on Saturday as the Tigers downed the Royals, 6-5.

Gary Sheffield hit his first home run as a Tiger and Curtis Granderson also homered for Detroit. Todd Jones picked up his second save of the season.

Reggie Sanders, playing in his first game of the season, had three hits, including a two-run homer, and Esteban German drove in two runs for the Royals.