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Tigers seek sweep of Royals, seventh straight win

May 6, 2007 - 3:23 PM Detroit (18-11) at Kansas City (10-21) 2:10 pm EDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- There are few better feelings in baseball than to be in the middle of a long winning streak.

The Detroit Tigers will look to continue the major's longest current winning streak on Sunday when they meet the Kansas City Royals in the finale of a three-game series.

The Tigers extended their tear to six games on Saturday after rallying with three runs in the top of the eighth inning for a 7-5 victory, improving to 6-2 this season over the Royals.

During the streak, Detroit has won five games decided by two runs or less, including three one-run affairs. The winning tear comes on the heels of a stretch where Detroit had managed only three wins in 12 contests from April 18-28.

Chad Durbin (1-1, 6.39 ERA) will get the start for the Tigers. Durbin yielded two runs and three hits despite walking a season-high six batters in 3 2/3 innings of Detroit's 5-4 win over Baltimore on Tuesday.

The righthander is 1-1 with a 6.53 ERA in six career games - including three starts - against the Royals.

Detroit reliever Joel Zumaya strained his right finger while warming up in the bullpen on Saturday and his immediate availability is unknown at this time.

If the Royals hope to turn their fortunes around against Detroit, Zach Greinke (1-3, 4.70) will need to pitch better. He is winless in his last four starts and allowed six runs and 10 hits in five innings of the Royals' 7-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Tuesday.

In his previous outing against the Tigers, the righthander failed to advance past the first inning, giving up four runs and three hits in 12-5 setback on April 16. All-Star catcher Ivan Rodriguez had the big blow with a grand slam.

Despite the poor outing, Greinke has fared well in his career against Detroit, going 6-2 with a 2.86 ERA in 10 games - including eight starts.

Kansas City is just 1-5 in games Greinke has started this season.

The Royals' Mike Sweeney hit the 193rd homer on of his career on Saturday to tie Amos Otis for second on the teams' all-time list trailing only George Brett (317). Sweeney is hitting .727 (8-for-11) lifetime against Durbin.