Tigers at Royals
There isn't much to cheer about when it comes to the Detroit Tigers this season but the personal exploits of future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera are reason to celebrate. The 36-year-old slugger tries to continue climbing the career hit and home run charts when Detroit, which owns the worst record in baseball, visits the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday in the middle contest of their three-game series.
Cabrera recorded his 2,800th career hit while going 2-for-3 in Tuesday's 6-5 loss - one day after belting his 475th home run, tying him with Stan Musial and Willie Stargell for 31st all-time. Kansas City's Jorge Soler on Tuesday made some history of his own by belting his club-record 39th home run of the season, breaking the old standard set by Mike Moustakas in 2017. Ryan O'Hearn capped Soler's big night with a memory of his own when he delivered his first career walk-off homer - a pinch-hit solo shot in the ninth inning - after the Tigers tied it but had the go-ahead run thrown out at the plate on the same play to end the top half. The Royals' Jakob Junis on Wednesday tries to snap a three-game unbeaten streak while facing a friendly foe in Detroit when he opposes Edwin Jackson, whose return to the Tigers has quickly fizzled.
TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, FS Detroit, FS Kansas City
PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers RH Edwin Jackson (3-8, 9.35 ERA) vs. Royals RH Jakob Junis (8-12, 4.93)
Jackson allowed 19 total runs over 12 1/3 innings while losing his last three starts, including 13-5 to Minnesota on Saturday after yielding eight runs (six earned) in 2 1/3 frames. The 35-year-old, who has pitched for 14 teams in 17 years, won his first two outings back with Detroit. The first was a 5-2 victory over Kansas City on Aug. 9, when he permitted one run and four hits across 6 1/3 innings and improved to 4-5 with a 5.06 ERA in 11 games (nine starts) versus the Royals.
Junis received a no-decision after allowing four runs and seven hits in six innings of Kansas City's 6-4 victory over Oakland on Aug. 28. The 26-year-old Illinois native has yielded 11 runs over 16 1/3 innings during his current winless streak (0-2). Junis is 7-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 11 games (10 starts) versus Detroit - 1-0, 3.32 in three turns this season - after a 10-2 victory Aug. 11 when he permitted two runs with six strikeouts over six innings.
WALK-OFFS
1. Kansas City 1B Ryan McBroom on Tuesday singled in his first major league at-bat after he was acquired from the New York Yankees on Saturday. The 27-year-old hit .315 with 26 home runs in 117 games at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season.
2. The Tigers (40-96) are on pace to record the second-worst season in their 119-year history behind the 2003 club (43-119).
3. Royals 2B-OF Whit Merrifield went 3-for-4 on Tuesday and is second in the major league in hits with 176, trailing Boston's Rafael Devers (177).