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Tigers seek to repeat July success vs. Royals

Aug 22, 2008 - 10:21 AM Detroit (62-65) at Kansas City (55-72) 8:10 pm EDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- A three-game sweep against the Kansas City Royals last month should have served as a springboard for the remainder of the Detroit Tigers' season. Instead, it became a minor detour to a highly frustrating second half.

The Tigers hope to turn around an inconsistent August when they face the Royals on Friday.

After dropping each of its first six games against Kansas City, Detroit put a stamp on how it hoped its second half would go in a sweep of the Royals, outscoring its American League Central rival, 33-6, in the process.

Instead, the Tigers have continued their inconsistent ways, going 10-16 since the sweep, including 7-12 in August.

Considering his past success against the Royals, Justin Verlander (9-13, 4.60 ERA) may be the player to get the Tigers headed in the right direction as the righthander is 6-1 with a 2.69 ERA in 10 career starts against KC.

Verlander collected his first win in over a month in his last outing, allowing two unearned runs and four hits over six frames in Saturday's 5-3 victory over Baltimore.

He'll be matched up against struggling Brian Bannister (7-12, 5.96), who is 0-6 with a 9.50 ERA over his last nine starts. The righthander is coming off the worst performance of his career after surrendering 10 runs and 10 hits over one inning in Sunday's 15-6 setback against the New York Yankees.