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Verlander takes ball for Tigers in KC

Aug 6, 2011 - 3:37 PM (Sports Network) - This could be one of the closest American League Cy Young races in quite some time, and one of the players gunning for that title is Detroit's Justin Verlander.

The veteran hurler will try to further prove his case this evening when he leads the Tigers against the Kansas City Royals in the second game of this three-game series at Kauffman Stadium.

The last time Verlander was on the hill, he took a no-hitter into the eighth against Anaheim. While the hard-throwing right-hander did not toss his second no hitter of the season, he did strike out nine batters en route to his 15th victory.

It was the third straight win for Verlander, and in each of those victories, he went at least eight innings. One of his 15 wins this year came against the Royals. In that matchup Verlander dominated the divisional rivals, allowing just one unearned run, while striking out nine in over seven innings.

However, that performance is not surprising considering Verlander is an outstanding 12-2 with a 2.31 earned run average in 18 starts against the Royals.

At the other end of the spectrum is young Danny Duffy. Duffy is a rookie for the Royals, making his 14th start, while trying to find an identity in the majors.

Slowly, but surely the young hurler might be coming around, as he has won two of his last three starts after going winless in six of his previous seven outings.

The last time Duffy was in action he avoided plenty of trouble against Cleveland to earn the victory. Although the young southpaw landed in the win column, he still surrendered two runs on eight hits and three walks.

Close to a month ago Duffy made his first-ever start against Detroit, and allowed just two runs in six inning. However, despite the solid showing he landed in the loss column.

On Friday, Brennan Boesch singled home the winning run in the 10th inning to lift the Tigers to a 4-3 win over Kansas City.

Wilson Betemit worked a leadoff walk off Aaron Crow (3-3) to begin the 10th. A wild pitch allowed pinch-runner Andy Dirks to take second and Boesch punched a one-out single to center for the lead.

Jose Valverde pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th for his 31st save of the season in as many opportunities.

Boesch made a winner of Daniel Schlereth (1-1), who pitched two scoreless innings as the first-place Tigers won for the fourth time in their past five games.

Johnny Giavotella went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored in his MLB debut for the Royals, who came into the game having won three of four.

Neither starter factored into the decision as Rick Porcello went 6 1/3 innings for Detroit and gave up three runs on seven hits with four strikeouts while Felipe Paulino was touched for three runs on six hits with a pair of walks and seven strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings for the Royals.

The Tigers have won seven of 10 over the Royals this year and have won six of their past eight trips to Kansas City.