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Rogers and Polanco look to lead Tigers to another victory

Sep 23, 2006 - 3:22 PM Detroit (92-62) at Kansas City (58-95) 7:10 pm EDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- The veteran presence of Kenny Rogers and Placido Polanco have been a major lift for the Detroit Tigers.

Rogers takes the mound and Polanco returns to second base Saturday as the Tigers continue a three-game series with the Kansas City Royals.

Rogers (16-6, 3.74 ERA) has anchored Detroit's young rotation all season and has pitched extremely well for most of the season. In July, he was 1-2 with a 9.28 ERA in five starts but is 5-1 with a 2.16 ERA in his last 10 outings.

Rogers' continued his solid pitching in Monday's 8-2 victory at Chicago. Despite battling an illness, he allowed four hits in six scoreless innings.

The 41-year-old lefthander has not pitched well against Kansas City this season. Although he is 1-0 in three starts, the Royals have tagged him for 11 runs and 19 hits in 16 1/3 innings.

The Tigers moved 1 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota in the American League Central as Sean Casey hit a two-run homer in Friday's 7-3 win. Before the game they activated Polanco, who is expected to start Saturday.

Polanco has not played since separating his shoulder on August 15 in Boston. In his absence, the Tigers were 13-21 as they used Neifi Perez and Omar Infante.

Kansas City has lost 12 of 13 meetings with Detroit and will start Mark Redman (10-9, 5.33), who has won three of his last four starts.

Redman, who pitched for Detroit in 2002, is 0-1 with a 6.10 ERA in two starts against his former team this season.